ColumMa  SJnibersttg 

STUDIES  IN  ROMANCE  PHILOLOGY  AND 
LITERATURE 


CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS  TO 
GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE 


THE  -INDEBTEDNESS  OF  CHAUCER'S 

*yi     £V/V/t     ^Z^^/fe          Ce>/Oj9*»&* 

TROILUS  AND  CRISEYDE 

TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE'S 

HISTORIA  TROJANA 


BY 

GEORGE   L.   HAMILTON,   A.M. 

SOMETIME  FELLOW  IN   COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

PROFESSOR  OF  ROMANCE   LANGUAGES   IN  TRINITY   COLLEGE 

NORTH    CAROLINA 


gorfe 

THE  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY,  AGENTS 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE 

1903 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1903, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped  January,  1903. 


Norfoooti  : 
J.  8.  Cuahing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

THE  following  study  is  a  dissertation  offered 
in  the  spring  of  1900  to  the  Faculty  of  Phi- 
losophy of  Columbia  University,  in  fulfilment 
of  one  of  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Philosophy.  My  original  plan  was 
to  make  an  investigation  of  Chaucer's  indebt- 
edness to  the  French  and  Latin  writers  who 
were  his  predecessors  in  telling  the  story  of 
Troilus  and  Criseyde,  but  owing  to  the  fact 
that  Joly's  edition  of  the  Roman  de  Troie  is 
so  very  incomplete  and  uncritical,  I  confined 
my  study  to  the  work  of  Guido,  citing  from 
the  French  poem  only  when  it  was  necessary 
to  quote  illustrative  parallel  passages.  I  have 
used  the  1486  Strasburg  edition  of  the  His- 
toria  Trojana,  but  I  have  been  able  to  collate 
the  passages  cited  with  the  readings  in  the 


vi  PREFACE 

best  and  oldest  manuscripts  of  the  work  in 
the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  and  the  British 
Museum,  without,  however,  finding  cause  to 
make  changes  which  were  essential. 

Studies  made  subsequent  to  the  writing  of 
this  dissertation,  upon  the  relations  between 
versions  of  Benoit's  work  and  the  plagiary  of 
Guido,  may  lead  me,  at  a  later  date,  to  mod- 
ify certain  statements. 

I  desire  to  thank  Professor  Henry  A.  Todd 
for  his  kindness  and  care  in  reading  over,  and 
giving  helpful  criticism  on,  the  manuscript  of 
this  book. 


CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS  TO 
GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE 


CHATJCEK'S   INDEBTEDNESS   TO 
GUIDO   DELLE   COLONNE 

ONE  of  the  most  discussed  of  literary 
problems  is  that  of  the  sources  of  Chaucer's 
Troilus  and  Criseyde,  owing,  among  other 
causes,  to  the  author's  own  statements  of 
the  case.  Twice  in  the  poem  he  cites  the 
name  of  the  writer  who  he  would  have  us 
think  was  the  author  of  the  book  from 
which  he  draws  his  narrative :  — 

"Myn  autour  called  Lollius"  (I.  394), t 
"As  telleth  Lollius  "  (V.  1653), 

and  whom  he  elsewhere  enumerates  with 
those  who  have  written  about  Trojan 
matters :  — 

"  And  by  him  stood,  withouten  lees, 
Ful  wonder  hye  on  a  pileer, 


2  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Of  yren,  he,  the  gret  Omeer  ; 
And  with  him  Dares  and  Tytus 
Before,  and  eek  he,  Lollius, 
And  Guido  eek  de  Columpnis, 
And  English  Ganfride  eek,  y-wis, 
And  ech  of  these,  as  have  I  joye, 
Was  besy  for  to  here  up  Troye."  l 

It  is  only  the  task  of  a  translator  that 
he  undertakes;  he  has  rendered  the  story 
out  of  the  original  text 

"in  swich  English  as  he  can,"2 

and  attempts  nothing  beyond  :  — 

"  O  lady  myn,  that  called  art  Cleo, 
Thou  be  my  speed  fro  this  forth,  and  my  muse, 
To  ryme  wel  this  book,  til  I  have  do  ; 
Me  nedeth  here  noon  other  art  to  use. 
For-  why  to  every  lovere  I  me  excuse, 
That  of  no  sentement  I  this  endyte, 


1  Hous  of  Fame,  1464-1472. 

2  Canterbury  Tales,  Group  B,  49.     Cf.  L.  of  G.  W.,  A, 
85-88. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  3 

But  out  of  Latin  in  my  tongue  it  wryte" 
(II.  8-14).1 

He  frequently  calls  attention  to  the  close- 
ness of  the  translation  he  is  making  of  his 
original,  which  he  mentions  as  if  it  were 
his  sole  authority,  whether  he  refers  to  the 
writer  or  his  work :  — 

"  And  of  his  song  nought  only  the  sentence, 
As  writ  myn  autour  called  Lollius, 
But  pleynly,  save  our  tonges  difference, 

1  Cf.  L.  of  G.  W.,  A,  264-266  :  — 

"  Hast  thou  najbjnad  in  English  eek  the  book 
How  that  Crisseyde  Troilus  forsook 
In  shewinge  how  that  wemen  han  don  mis  ?  " 

But  in  the  second  form  of  the  same  passage  the  God  of 
Love  reproaches  the  poet,  as  if  he  had  expressed  merely 
his  own  "  sentelnent "  in  that  work.  L.  of  G.  W.,  B,  332- 
334:  —  ' 

"  And  of  Criseyde  thou  hast  seyd  as  thee  liste ; 
That  maketh  men  to  wommen  lasse  triste 
That  ben  as  trewe  as  ever  was  any  steel." 

In  the  Retraction  at  the  end  of  the  Persones  Tale,  "  the 
book  of  Troilus "  is  the  first  mentioned  in  the  list  "  of 
my  translacionjL^and  endytinges  of  worldly  vanitees." 
Canterbury  Tales,  Group  I,  1084-1085. 


4  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

I  dar  wel  sayn,  in  al  that  Troilus 

Seyde  in  his  song  ;  lo  !  every  word  right  thus 

As  I  shal  seyn ;  and  who-so  list  it  here, 

Lo!  next  this  vers,  he  may  it  finden  here" 

(I.  393-399). 

"  Wherefore  I  nil  have  neither  thank  ne  blame 
Of  al  this  werk,  but  pray  yow  mekely, 
Disblameth  me,  if  any  word  be  lame 
For  as  myn  auctor  seyde,  so  seye  I. 
Eek  though  I  speke  of  love  unfelingly, 
No  wonder  is ;  for  it  no-thing  of-newe  is, 
A  blind  man  can-not  juggen  wel  in  hewis" 
(II.  15-21).1 

*Cf.L.ofG.  TF.,  A,  340:  — 
"  Or  elles  sir,  for  that  this  man  is  nyce, 
He  may  translate  a  thing  in  no  malyce, 
But  for  he  useth  bokes  for  to  make, 
And  takth  non  heed  of  what  matere  he  take ; 
Therfor  he  wroot  the  Rose  and  eek  Crisseyde 
Of  innocence,  and  niste  what  he  seyde ; 
Or  him  was  boden  make  thilke  tweye 
Of  som  persone,  and  durst  hit  nat  with-seye ; 
For  he  hath  writen  many  a  book  er  this, 
He  ne  hath  doon  nat  so  grevously  amis 
To  translaten  that  olde  clerkes  wryten, 
As  thogh  that  he  of  malyce  wolde  endyten 
Despyt  of  love,  and  had  him-self  y-wroght." 

Cf.  T.  and  C.,  HI.  1328-1336. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  5 

"Myn  auctor  shal  I  folwen,  if  I  conne"  (II. 
49). 

"And  what  she  thoughte  sorawhat  shal  I  wryte, 
As  to  myn  auctor  listeth  for  to  endyte  "  (II. 
699-700). 

"  For  ther  was  som  epistel  hem  bitwene, 
That  wolde,  as  seyth  myn  auctor,  wel  contene 
An  hondred  vers,  of  which  him  list  not  wryte  ; 
(  Far.  Neigh  half  this  book,  of  which  him  list 

not  wryte ;) 
How  sholde  I  thanne  a  lyne  of  it  endyte" 

(III.  501-504). 

"  Nought  list  myn  auctor  fully  to  declare, 
What  that  she  thoughte  whan  he  seyde  so, 
That  Troilus  was  out  of  town  y-fare, 
As  if  he  seyde  ther-of  sooth    or  no"   (III. 
575-578). 

"  Though  that  I  tarie  a  yeer,  somtyme  I  moot 
After  myn  auctor,  tellen  hir  gladnesse, 
As  wel  as  I  have  told  hir  hevinesse  "  (III. 
1195-1197). 

"  Thourgh  yow  have  I  seyd  fully  in  my  song 
Th'effect  and  joye  of  Troilus  servyse, 
Al  be  that  ther  was  som  disese  among, 


6  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

As  to  myn  auctor  listeth  to  devyse  " l  (III. 
1814-1817). 

"And  after  this  the  story  telleth  us  "  (V.  1037). 
"  But  trewely,  the  story  telleth  us  "  (V.  1051). 

And  again  he  is  careful  to  give  notice 
that  he  is  abridging  his  original :  — 

"  [She]  gan  a  lettre  wryte, 
Of  which  to  telle  in  short 2  is  myn  entente 
Th'effecty  as  fer  as  I  can  understonde  "  (II. 
1218-1220). 

1  In  II.  31-32 :  — 

"  As  the  story  will  devyse 
How  Troilus  com  to  his  lady  grace." 
and  V.  1093-1094 :  — 

"  Ne  me  ne  list  this  sely  womman  chyde 
Ferther  than  the  story  wol  devyse." 

reference  is  made  to  the  tale  as  it  is  found  in  Chaucer's 
own  narrative,  as  he  took  it  from  his  sources.  Cf .  T.  and 
C.,  V.  1772-1776. 

2  On  the  frequency  of  this  phrase  and  its  equivalents, 
"shortly  to  tell,"  and   "shortly  to  say,"  in  Chaucer's 
poems,  cf.  T.  R.  Lounsbury,  Studies  in  Chaucer,  1892, 
Vol.  II.  pp.  95-96,  547-548.    In  T.  and  C.  (III.  548, 1117, 
1156  ;  V.  1009,  1826),  except  in  the  passage  cited  in  the 
text,  such  expressions  are  used  as  mere  chevilles. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  7 

"  But,  sooth  is,  though  I  can  not  tellen  al, 
As  can  myn  auctor,  of  his  excellence, 
Yet  have  I  seyd,  and,  god  to-forn,  I  shal 
In  every-thing  al  hoolly  his  sentence "  (III. 
1324-1327). 

And  yet,  as  if  he  did  not  see  the  con- 
tradiction of  his  own  statements,  he  is 
careful  to  note  that  he  consulted  various 
works  in  writing  his  poem  :  — - 

"  But  whan  his  shame  gan  somwhat  to  passe, 
His  resons,  as  I  may  my  rymes  holde, 
I  yow  wol  telle,  as  techen  bokes  olde"  (III. 
89-91). 

"  Criseyde,  which  that  f elte  hir  thus  y-take, 
As  writen  clerkes  in  hir  bokes  olde, 
Right  as  an  aspes  leef  she  gan  to  quake, 
Whan  she  him  felte  hir  in  his  armes  folde  " 
(III.  1198-1201). 

"  And  trewely,  how  longe  is  was  bitwene, 
That  she  for-sook  him  for  this  Diomede, 
Ther  is  non  auctor  telleth  it,  I  wene. 
Take  every  man  now  to  his  bokes  hede ; 
He  shal  no  terme  finden,  out  of  drede  "  (V. 
1086-1090). 


8  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  For  how  Criseyde  Troilus  forsook, 
Or  at  the  leste,  how  that  she  was  unkinde, 
Mot  hennes-forth  ben  matere  of  my  book, 
As  wry  ten  folk  thorugh  which  it  is  in  minde. 
Alias  !  that  they  shulde  ever  cause  finde 
To  speke  hir  harm  ;  and  if  they  on  hir  lye, 
Y-wis,  hem-self  sholde  han  the  vilayne  "  (IV. 
15-21). 

"  And  treweliche,  as  writen  wel  I  finde, 
That  al  this  thing  was  seyd  of  good  entente ; 
And  that  hir  herte  trewe  was  and  kinde 
Towardes  him,  and  spak  right  as  she  mente, 
And  that  she  starf  for  wo  neigh,  whan  she 

wente, 

And  was  in  purpos  ever  to  be  trewe ; 
Thus  writen  they  that  of  hir  werkes  knewe  " 
(IV.  1415-1421). 

"  Lo,  trewely,  they  writen  that  hir  syen, 
That  Paradys  stood  formed  in  hir  yen"  (V. 
816-817). 

"I  finde  eek  in  the  stories  elles- where"  (V. 
1044). 

"  In  alle  nedes,  for  the  tounes  werre, 
He  was,  and  ay  the  firste  in  armes  dight ; 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONISTE  0 

And  certeynly,  but-if  that  bokes  erre, 
Save  Ector,  most  y-drad  of  any  wight "  (III. 
1772-1775). 

"And  trewely,  as  men  in  bokes  rede"  (V.  19). 
"  This  Diomede,  as  bokes  us  declare  "  (V.  799). 
"For  these  bokes  wol  me  shende"  (V.  1060). 

"  For  whom,  as  olde  bokes  tellen  us, 
Was  maad  swich  wo,  that  tonge  it  may  not 
telle"  (V.  1562-1563). 

"  In  many  cruel  batayle,  out  of  drede, 
Of  Troilus,  this  ilke  noble  knight, 
As  men  may  in  these  olde  bokes  rede, 
Was  sene  his  knighthod  and  his  grete  might " 
(V.  1751-1754). 

"  Ye  may  hir  gilt  in   othere  bokes  see  "  (V. 
1776). 

The  three  passages,  — 

"  And  certainly  in  story  it  is  y-f ounde  "  (V. 
834), 

"  But  certeyn  is,  to  purpos  for  to  go, 
That  in  this  whyle,  as  writen  is  in  geste, 
He  say  his  lady  som-tyme ;  and  also 
She  with  him  spak"  (III.  449-451), 


10  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  And  ofte  tyme,  I  finde  that  they  mette 
With  blody  strokes  and  with  wordes  grete, 
Assayinge  how  hir  speres  weren  whette  ; 
And  god  it  woot,  with  many  a  cruel  hete 
Gan    Troilus    upon   his    helm   to-bete"   (V. 
1758-1762), 

are  too  indefinite  in  their  statements  to 
specify  whether  one  or  more  authorities  are 
referred  to. 

v  Again,  he  does  not  care  to  give  on  his  own 
authority  statements  which  he  has  not  found 
vouched  for  elsewhere :  — 

"  But   whether    that    she    children    hadde   or 

noon, 

I  rede  it  nought ;  therefore  I  lete  it  goon " 
(I.  132-133). 

"  But  how  it  was,  certayn,  can  I  not  seye, 
If  that  his  lady  understood  not  this, 
Or  f eyned  hir  she  niste,  oon  of  the  tweye ; 
But  wel  I  rede  that,  by  no  maner  weye, 
Ne  semed  it  as  that  she  of  him  roughte, 
Nor  of  his  peyne,  or  what-so-ever  he  thoughte  " 
(I.  492-497). 


TO   GUIDO   DELLE   COLOGNE  11 

unless  it  may  be  upon  a  matter  of  his  own 
experience :  — 

"  But  as  we  may  alday  our-selven  see, 
Through  more  wode  or  col,  the  more  fyr ; 
Right  so  encrees  of  hope,  of  what  it  be, 
Therwith  f ul  of te  encreseth  eek  desyr ; 
Or,  as  an  ook  cometh  of  a  litel  spyr, 
So  through  this  lettre,  which  that  she  him  sente, 
Encresen  gan  desyr,  of  which  he  brente. 
Wherfore  I  seye  alwey,  that  day  and  night 
This  Troilus  gan  to  desiren  more 
Than  he  dide  erst,  thurgh  hope  "  l  (II.  1331- 
1340). 

He  makes  a  point  of  referring  his  readers 
who  are  interested  in  the  fate  of  Troy  to 
the  books  devoted  to  that  subject:  — 

"  But  how  this  toun  com  to  destruccioun 
Ne  falleth  nough  to  purpos  me  to  telle ; 

1  As  illustrative  of  Chaucer's  process  of  composition  it 
may  be  noted  that  II.  1331-1337  are  not  based  upon  the 
corresponding  stanza  in  the  Filostrato  (III.  130);  the 
comparison  II.  1335  is  taken  from  the  Liber  Parabolorwn 
of  Alain  de  Lille  (Migne,  Patrologia,  vol.  CCX.  col. 


12  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

For  it  were  here  a  long  disgressioun 
Fro  my  matere,  and  for  yow  long  to  dwelle. 
But  the  Troyane  gestes,  as  they  felle, 
In  Omer,  or  in  Dares,  or  in  Dyte, 
Who-so    that    can,   may  rede   hem  as  they 
wryte"  (I.  141-147). 

and,  as  the  theme  of  his  poem  is  the  love 
of  Troilus  for  Criseyde,  those  who  wish  to 
know  of  his  warlike  exploits  must  go  else- 
where for  information :  — 

"  And  if  I  hadde  y -taken  for  to  wryte 
The  armes  of  this  ilke  worthy  man, 
Than  wolde  I  of  his  batailles  endyte. 
But  for  that  I  to  wryte  first  began 
Of  his  love,  I  have  seyd  as  that  I  can. 
His  worthy  dedes,  who-so  list  hem  here, 
Reed  Dares,  he  can  tell  hem  alle  y-fere  (V. 
1765-1771). 

Lydgate,    in    the    "  Prologue "    to    his 
Tragedies,  a   free   paraphrase   in  verse  of 

583;  cf.  E.  Koeppel,  Herrig's  Archiv,  vol.  XC.  p.  150), 
while  the  conclusion  II.  1338-1340  is  a  translation  of  the 
mere  statement  of  fact  by  Boccaccio.  (FiL,  III.  131, 1-3 ; 
cf.  130,  7.) 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  13 

the  French  prose  version  by  Laurent  de 
Premierfait  of  Boccaccio's  De  Casibus 
Virorum1  in  his  "  list "  of  Chaucer's  works, 
notes  that:  — 

"  In  youthe  he  made  a  translation 
Of  a  boke  which  called  is  Trophe 
In  Lumbard  tonge  as  men  may  rede  and  se 
And  in  our  vulgare,  long  or  that  he  dyed 
Gave  it  to  name  of  Troylus  and  Creseyde."2 

1  T.  Warton,  History  of  English  Poetry,  ed.  1840,  vol. 
II.  pp.  277-278,  320.     P.  Paris,  Les  manuscripts  francois  de 
la  Bibliotheque  du  Roi,  Paris,  1836-1848,  vol.  I.  pp.  233- 
260;  II.  231-244;  V.  119-122.     A.  Hortis,  Studi  sulle 
opere  Mine  del  Boccaccio,   Trieste,    1879,   pp.   638-642. 
E.  Koeppel,    Laurents   und    Lydgates  Bearbeitungen  von 
Boccaccio's  Casibus  Virorum,  Munich,  1885. 

2  The  Tragedies  gathered  by  Jhon  Bochas  of  all  such 
Princes  as  fell  from  theyr  estates  throughe  the  mutability  of 
Fortune  since  the  Creadon  of  A  dam  until  his  time  ;  wherein 
may  be  seen  what  vices  bring  mene  to  destruction,  with  nota- 
ble warninges  howe  the  like  may  be  avoydde.     Translated 
into  English  by  John  Lidgate,  MonJce  of  Burye,  edition  of 
J.  Wayland,  1558 ;  cf.  T.  F.  Dibdin,  Typographical  An- 
tiquities, 1816,  vol.  III.  pp.  530-531.    This  seems  to  be  the 
"undated  black-letter  edition"  cited  by  Skeat.    Minor 
Poems  of  Chaucer,  p.  x. 


U  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Again,  in  his  version  of  the  Historic* 
Trojana  of  Guido  delle  Colonne,  in  the 
translation  of  the  critical  discussion  of  the 
writers  upon  the  Trojan  war,  Homer,  Virgil, 
Ovid,  Dictys,  and  Dares,  such  as  he  found 
it  in  his  original,1  depending,  doubtless, 
upon  the  list  in  Chaucer's  Hous  of  Fame, 
he  adds  without  comment  a  new  name, — 

1  Warton  was  uncertain  whether  Lydgate's  Troy-book 
was  a  direct  translation  from  the  work  of  Guido,  or  from 
a  French  version  of  the  Latin  original.  (Hist,  of  Eng. 
Poetry,  1840,  vol.  II.  p.  292.)  A.  Joly  thought  that  the 
Latin  original  had  been  amplified  by  the  use  of  Benoit's 
poem.  (Benoit  de  Ste.  More  et  le  Roman  de  Troie  ou  les 
metamorphoses  d'Homere  et  de  Vepope'e  greco-latine  au  moyen- 
age,  vol.  II.  pp.  494-496.)  Henry  Bradshaw  regarded  the 
Latin  work  as  the  original  of  this,  as  well  as  the  other 
English  versions.  (Proceedings  of  the  Cambridge  Anti- 
quarian Soc.,  vol.  III.)  Sidney  Lee,  evidently  upon  the 
sole  authority  of  the  title-page,  stated  that  "Lydgate 
mainly  paraphrased  <  Guido  di  Colonne's  Historia  de  Bello 
Trojano'  and  perhaps  Dares  Phrygius  and  Dictys  Creten- 
sis."  (Diet,  of  Nat.  Biog.,  vol.  XXXIV.  p.  312.)  Schick 
seems  to  think  that  a  French  source  was  used  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Latin  work.  (Lydgate's  Temple  of  Glass, 
p.  (jxvii. ;  cf.  Troy-book,  sig.  b  2  verso,  col.  1.) 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  15 

"And  of  this  syege  wrote  eke  Lollius." l 

And  when  he  comes  to  the  episode  of  Tro- 
ilus  and  Criseyde  in  his  original,  he  states 
that  he  will  not  give  it  in  full :  — 

"  Syth  my  maister  Chaucer  here  afore 
In  this  matter  hath  so  well  him  bore, 
In  his  boke  of  Troylus  and  Creseyde 
Which  he  mayde  longe  or  that  he  deyde."2 

In  the  first  edition  of  the  works  of 
Chaucer  which  contained  anything  in  the 
way  of  a  commentary,3  that  of  Speght, 

1  The  Auncient  Historie  and  onely  Trewe  and  sincere 
Cronicle  of  the  Warres  betwixte  the  Grecians  and  Troyanes. 
.  .  .    Wrytten  by  Daretus  a  Troyan,  and  Dictus  a  Grecian 
.   .  .  and  Digested  in  Latyn  by  the  lerned  Guydo  de  Colump- 
nis  and  sythes  translated  by  John  Lid  gate  Moncke  of  Burye. 
Thomas  Marshe,  1555,  sig.  b  2  verso,  col.  1.     Cf.  Dibdin, 
I.e.,  vol.  IV.  pp.  494-496.     I  cite  this  as  Troy-book. 

2  I.e.,  sig.  R  2  verso,  col.  1. 

8  The  Troilus  had  already  been  printed  in  the  "  Works 
of  Chaucer,"  in  the  editions  of  Pynson,  1526 ;  of  W. 
Thynne,  1532  and  1542;  and  the  reprints  of  the  latter 
in  1550  and  1561 ;  as  well  as  separately  by  C  ax  ton,  ab. 
1483;  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  1517;  Pynson,  1526.  (Henry 
Bradshaw,  ap.  Francis  Thynne's  Animadversions,  ed.  F.  J. 


16  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

published  in  1598,  in  the  section  of  the 
introduction  which  treats  of  the  works  of 
the  poet,  the  editor  writes:  — 

"Troilus  and  Creseid  called  Throphee  in 
the  Lumbard  tongue,  translated  not  verbatim, 
but  the  argument  thence  taken,  and  most 
cunningly  amplified  by  Chaucer."1 

This  magisterial  sentence  seems  to  imply 
that  Speght  had  information  of  a  definite 
nature  upon  the  sources  of  the  Troilus 
other  than  that  given  in  Lydgate's  lines; 
but  his  restatement  of  the  same  matter  in 
the  corresponding  passage,  in  his  edition 
of  1602,  promptly  disposes  of  such  a  sug- 
gestion. 

"  Troilus  and  Creseid  called  Throphe  in  the 
Lumbard  tongue  was  translated  out  of  Latin,  as 
in  the  Preface  to  the  Seconde  booke  of  Troilus 
and  Creseid  he  conf esseth  in  these  words,  — 

Furnivall,  1875,  p.  70  n.  Cf .  Skeat  in  Works  of  Chaucer, 
vol.  II.  pp.  Ixxv-lxxvi.) 

1  Workes  of  Chaucer,  1598,  sig.  c  1  recto. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLOGNE  17 

6  To  every  lover  I  me  excuse, 
That  of  no  sentement  I  this  endite, 
But  out  of  Latin  in  my  tonge  it  write.' " 1 


His  identification  of  Lollius  as  "  an  Ital- 

• 

ian  Historiographer  borne  in  the  citie  of 
Urbine  "  in  his  list  of  Most  of  the  Authors 
cited  by  G.  Chaucer  in  his  works  by  name 
declared,2  has  the  merit^  of  being  specific 
as  to  the  author,  if  not  supplying  infor- 
mation about  his  work  and  the  language 
in  which  it  was  written. 

1  Workes  of  Chaucer,  1602,  sig.  c  1  recto. 

2  Cf .  Francis  Thynne's  Animadversions,  p.  71.     "  The 
fourthe  things  ys,  that  in  the  catalogue  of  the  auctours, 
you  have  omytted  manye  auctours  vouched  by  Chaucer ; 
and  therefore  dyd  rightlye  intitle  yt,  *  most/  and  not  all, 
of  the  auctours  cited  by  geffrye  Chawcer."     In  the  edition 
of  1602,  Speght  obviated  this  criticism  by  writing,  "  The 
authors  cited  by  G.  Chaucer  in  his  workes  by  name 
declared."      Dryden's   information  about  the  source  of 
Chaucer's  Troilus  is  due  to  Speght  (  Works  of  Dryden,  ed. 
Scott-Saintsbury,  vol.  VI.  p.  225),  to  whom  he  is  indebted 
in  other  ways.     Cf.  F.  H.  Tupper,  Mod.  Lang.  Notes,  vol. 
XII.  pp.  347-352 ;  cf .  Douce,  Illustrations  of  Shakespeare 
(1807),  p.  64. 


18  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Sir  Henry  Savile,  in  his  edition  of  the 
work  De  Causa  Dei  contra  Pelagas  of 
Bishop  Thomas  Bradwardine  (1290(?)-1349), 
published  in  1618,  suggested  that  the  dis- 
course upon  predestination  in  the  Troilus 
(IV.  966-1078)  and  in  the  Nonne  Preestes 
Tale?  where  the  author's  name  is  men- 
tioned, bespoke  an  acquaintance  with  his 
work.2 

^"Sir  Francis  Kinaston,  who  in  1635  pub- 
lished the  first  two  books  of  his  Latin  ver- 
sion of  the  Troilus,  in  which  the  metrical 
structure  of  the  original  was  preserved  in 

1  C.  T.,  Group  B,  4432. 

2  Life  of  Chaucer  in  Preface  to  Urry's  edition  of  1721 ; 
also  quotation  in   Testimonies  of  same  edition.     Speght 
gives  as  the  Argument  of  the  poem,  "  In  which  discourse 
Chaucer  liberally  treateth  of  the  divine  purveiaunce." 
(  Workes  of  Chaucer,  1598 ;  sig.  c  5  verso ;  ed.  1602 ;  sig. 
Bb  5  recto.)      The  author  of  the  Testament  of  Love  had 
already  referred  to  the  same  passage  as  authoritative  on 
the  matter.     (Book  III.  ch.  IV.  248  ff.  in  W.  W.  Skeat, 
Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces,  p.  123.)     Cf.   Lounsbury, 
Studies  in  Chaucer,  vol.  I.  pp.  202-204. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  19 

the  number  of  lines  to  a  stanza,  of  sylla- 
bles to  the  line,  and  in  the  order  of  the 
rimes,1  in  his  English  commentary  on  the 
poem,  noting  the  great  difference  between 
the  story  of  certain  characters  in  the  Tro- 
jan legend,  as  found  in  Chaucer's  poem, 
and  that  in  other  sources,  writes :  — 

"  Some  do  not  improbably  conjecture  that 
Chaucer,  in  writing  the  loves  and  lives  of  Troi- 
lus  and  Creseid,  did  rather  glance  at  some  pri- 
vate persons,  as  one  of  king  Edward  the  third's 
sons,  and  a  lady  of  the  court,  his  paramour; 
then  [than]  follow  Homer,  Dares  Phyrius,  or 
any  author  writing  the  history  of  those  times  ; 
for  first,  it  cannot  be  imagined  that  Chaucer, 
being  soe  great  a  learned  scholler,  could  be 
ignorant  of  the  story ;  next  that  he  should  soe 
mistake  as  to  make  Creseid  the  daughter  of 
Calchus,  the  soothsayer,  who  was  the  daughter 
of  one  Chryses,  and  there  uppon  called  Chry- 
seis,  whereas  her  right  name  was  Astynome ; 
then  there  should  be  any  love  between  Troilus 

1  Amorum  Troili  et  Creseidce,  Libri  duo  priores, 
Oxonise,  1635 ;  cf .  Lounsbury,  I.e.,  vol.  III.  pp.  77-78. 


20  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

and  her;  especially  that  Chaucer  should  per- 
sonate her  as  a  widdow,  whereas  she  was  a  votary 
to  Diana."1) 

TimotliyLThQraas,  in  his  preface^to  Urryls 
edition  of  Chaucer,  published  in  1721,  has 
little  to  add  concerning  the  sources  of  the 
Troilus;  he  repeats  Speght's  statements 
about  "Lollius"  and  "Trophe"  and  then 
goes  on  to  say:  — 

"He  has  not  contented  himself  with  a  bare 
translation  of  his  Author,  but  hath,  added 
several  things  of  his  own,  and  borrowed  from 

1  The  Loves  of  Troilus  and  Creseid,  written  by  Chaucer; 
with  a  commentary,  by  Sir  Francis  Kinaston,  never  before 
published.  London.  Printed  for  and  sold  by  F.  G. 
Waldron,  MDCCXVI.  pp.  7-8 ;  (first  part)  cf .  Lounsbury, 
I.e.,  vol.  III.  pp.  81-82.  Urry,  in  preparing  his  edition  of 
Chaucer,  had  drawn  notes  from  the  apparently  unique 
manuscript  of  Kinaston's  complete  work,  and  these  were 
used  by  Thomas.  Cf .  Preface  to  Urry's  Chaucer,  sig.  m ; 
Glossary,  p.  47.  The  Loves,  etc.,  pp.  i.-ii.,  vii.,  xi.-xii. 
After  Waldron's  death,  we  find  the  manuscript  in  posses- 
sion of  W.  S.  Singer.  Cf.  Works  of  Chaucer.  Cheswick, 
1822,  vol.  I.  pp.  xx.-xxi.,  n. ;  Notes  and  Queries,  I.  5, 
252, 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  21 

others  .5diak4ie~thought-  prop^r^f  or  jhe  Embel- 
lishment  .ofjthis  work,  and  particularly  the  song 
of  Troilus  in  the  First  Book  is  a  Translation  of 
that  song  in  Petrarch  which  begins,  S'  amor 
non  e,  Che  dunqu'  e  quel  ch'  io  sento?" 

and  he  then  refers  to  the  comments  of 
Savile  and  Kinaston,  which  have  been 
mentioned  above,  and  in  the  Glossary  under 
Lollius,  he  writes  :  — 

"An  Italian  Historiographer  born  at  Urbino, 
who  lived  under  the  Emperors  Macrinus  and 
Heliogabalus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Third 
Century,  is  said  to  have  written  the  History  of 
His  Own  Time,  and  also  the  Life  of  the  Emperor 
Diadumenus,  the  Son  of  Macrinus"1  —  J 


It  was  Thn-mq.p  Tyrwhitt^  to  whom  stu- 
dents of  Chaucer  owe  the  most  for  the 
elucidation  of  the  poet's  work,  particularly 
of  the  Canterbury  Tales*  who  was  the  first 

1  Tyrwhitt  showed  clearly  that  Thomas  was  the  editor 
of  the  1721  Chaucer,  after  the  death  of  Urry.  The  Poeti- 
cal Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer.  Ed.  T.  Tyrwhitt.  Lon- 
don, 1855,  p.  vii.  and  note  n. 


22  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

to  point  out  the  immediate  source  of  the 
story  of  the  poem.  In  his  Essay  on  the 
Language  and  Versification  of  Chaucer,  pref- 
aced to  his  edition  of  the  Canterbury  Tales, 
he  stated  that  in  his  opinion  "  Chaucer  was 

to  the  full  as  much  obliged  to  Boccacce  in 

his  Troilus  as  in  his  Knight's  Tale''  *  In 
his  notes  and  glossary  he  shows  that  he  has 
made  a  careful  comparison  of  the  English 
poem  with  the  Italian  original,2  points  out 
the  indebtedness  to  the  JDe  Consolatione 
Philosophic  of  Boethius  in  the  passage 
treating  of  predestination,3  notices_that  the 
sonnet  of  Petrarch  was  translated  as  the 
work :  of  Lollius,4  whose  identity  he  leaves 
as  a  puzzle,5  and  would  identify  Chaucer's 
own  mention  of  Trophe,  . 

"  At  bothe  the  worldes  endes  saith  Trophee 
In  stede  of  boundes  he  a  pillar  set,"  6 

1  Poetical  Works  of  G.  Chaucer,  p.  xxxix.  note  62. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  182, 190,  205,  209, 457, 471, 476,  483, 486, 495. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  457.    4  /j^-PP^a,  488.    5  Ibid.,  pp.  209, 479. 
6  C.  T.,  14123-14124.    Ed.  Tyrwhitt. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  23 

and  Lydgate's  Trophe,  with  the  Filostrato.1 
He  also  suggests  that  the  "Latin"  from^ 
which  language  Chaucer  stated  he  had 
translated  his  poem  was  Italian,  as  Boc- 
caccio in  the  Teseide 2  —  to  which  the  Eng- 
lish poet  was  under  obligations  in  his 
Parlement  of  Foules?  Anelida  and  Arcite? 

1  Poetical  Works  of  Chaucer,  pp.  203,  209,  495. 

2  Teseide,  II.  2,  4.     Cf.  Poetical  Works,  etc.,  p.  liv.  n. 

3  Poetical  Works,  etc.,  p.  179 ;    cf .  ten  Brink,  Chau- 
cer.    Studien  zur  Geschichte  seiner  Entwickelung,  pp.  125- 
128. 

4  ten  Brink,  I.e.,  pp.  49-53,  56.     On  Palamon  and 
Arcite,  Chaucer's  early  translation  of  the  Teseide,  which, 
it   has   been    conjectured,   was   written    in   seven-verse 
stanzas,  and  utilized  in  some  of  his  latter  works ;  cf.  ten 
Brink,  I.e.,  pp.  39-70 ;  J.  Koch,  Eng.  Stud.,  I.  pp.  249  ff. ; 
XXVII.  pp.  3, 12 ;  A.  W.  Pollard,  Globe  Chaucer,  pp.  xxvi.- 
xxvii. ;  F.  J.  Mather,  An  English  Miscellany  Presented  to 
Dr.  Furnivall,  pp.  301  f£.     Tyrwhitt,  who  suggested  that 
Palamon  and  Arcite  was  a  translation  of  the  Teseida  (I.e., 
p.  xxxix.  and  note  62,  liii.),  did  not  note  the  parallel 
passages  in  Anelida  and  Arcite,  and  supposed  that  the 
later  poem  was  written  before  Chaucer's  acquaintance 
with  Boccaccio's  work  (I.e.,  p.  445),  and  W.  Hertzberg 
adopted  this  view  (Chaucer's  Canterbury-geschichten,  1866, 
pp.  61,  595),  which  was  successfully  combated  by  ten 


24  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Troilus1  and  the  Knight's  Tale2  —  had  re- 
ferred to  his  own  language  as  "  Latino 
volgare." 3 

Warton,  in  his  History  of  English  Poetry, 
quotes  Lydgate's  statement  concerning  the 
source  of  the  poem,  which  he  thinks  is  in 
conflict  with  what  Chaucer  himself  says 
about  the  language  of  the  work  he  is  trans- 
lating, speaks  of  the  conjecture  of  Speght, 
whose  name  he  does  not  mention,  upon 
"  Lollius,"  refers  to  the  historian  of  the 
third  century,  Lollius  Urbicus,  none  of 
whose  works  are  extant,  although  Du 
Cange  puts  him  in  his  list  of  authorities 
in  his  Glossariwn,  who,  however,  "could 
not  be  Chaucer's  Lollius/'  who  in  the 

Brink  (I.e.,  pp.  49,  53-56),  whose  theory  on  this  point  is 
accepted  by  Mather  (I.e.,  pp.  307-312). 

1  Poet.  Works,  p.  182. 

2  Thynnes  Animadversions,  ed.  Furnivall,  p.  43 ;  Poet. 
Works,  pp.  liii.-lvi.,  178-182 ;  T.  Warton,  Hist,  of  Eng. 
Poetry,  1774,  vol.  I.  pp.  344,  357. 

8  Poet.  Works,  p.  209.  A  view  accepted  by  Skeat. 
Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  p.  468. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLOGNE  25 


HOUS   of  Fame   is   plfl^d    a.-mrmgsf.   til  ft   Tn>- 

torians  of  Troy,  and  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  names  Monesteo,  Kupheo,  and 
Phebuseo1  denoted  an  Italian  original.  He 
points  out  a  number  of  the  passages  2  in  the 
Troilus  in  which  Chaucer  comments  upon 
the  closeness  with  which  he  follows  his 
authority;  and  mentions  the  indebtedness 
of  the  English  poem  to  Boethius,  Petrarch, 
and  Bradwardine  —  the  last  as  if  assured 
as  the  others.3 

At  a  later  date,  from  information  re- 
ceived from  Tyrwhitt,4  he  knew  that  the 
Filostrato  was  the  direct  source  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  English  poem,5  whereas 
before,  knowing  merely  the  title  of  Boc- 

1  T.  and  C.,  II.  51-54. 

2  T.  and  C.,  II.  10;  III.  576,  1330,  1823. 
8  T.  Warton,  I.e.,  vol.  I.  pp.  384-388. 

4  On  Warton's  great  indebtedness  to  Tyrwhitt,  cf  . 
Ritson,  Observations  on  the  First  Three  Volumes  of  the 
History  of  English  Poetry,  1782,  pp.  30,  31,  33,  48.  On 
Warton's  ignorance  of  Italian,  ibid.,  pp.  30,  38. 

6  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry,  1840,  vol.  II.  p.  162,  note. 


26  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

caccio's    work,    he   had    thought    that    it 
only  treated  of  the  same  subject.1 

William  Godwin,  in  his  Life  of  Chaur 
cer,  published  in  1.803,  which  "  may,  in- 
deed, be  declared  to  deserve  the  distinction 
of  being  the  most  worthless  piece  of  bi- 
ography in  the  English  language,"2  disputes 
Tyrwhitt's  view  in  every  particular.  He 
asserts  that  without  question  the  Troilus 
is  a  translation  of  the  Latin  work  Trophe 
s  not  theLllius  iUrbicus  of  the 


third  ___  century,  but  a  contemporary  of 
Wace  and  Thomas  of  Becket,8  the  author, 
also,  of  the  original  of  the  story  of 
Palamon  and  Arcite*  He  asks  whether 
it  is  probable  that  Chaucer  would  consult 
a  less  known  work  of  Boccaccio,  when  in 
the  Clerk's  Tale  he  does  not  show  an 

1  Hist.  ofEng.  Poetry,  1778,  vol.  I,  p.  385  ;  II.  p.  25. 

2  Lounsbury,  I.e.,  vol.  I.  p.  194. 

8  W.  Godwin,  Life  of  Chaucer,  1804,  vol.  I.  pp.  419, 
429-430,  437-438. 

4  I.e.,  vol.  III.  p.  17,  note. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  27 

acquaintance  with  the  Decameron,  the 
work  by  which  the  author  is  generally 
known.1 

W.  W.  Singer,  in  the  introduction  to 
the  poems  of  Chaucer,  published  in  1822 
in  the  Chiswick  collection  of  English 
poets,  shows  that  he  had  made  a  careful 
comparison  of  the  English  and  Italian 
poems,  stating  that  the  Troilus  was  "  for 
the  most  part  a  translation  of  the  Filo- 
strato  of  Boccaccio,  but  with  many  varia- 
tions and  large  additions,  amounting  to 
no  less  than  2700  verses."  Chaucer's 
references  to  "Lollius"  and  to  "Latin" 
were  surprising,  "  for  nothing  can  be 
more  certain  than  that  Boccaccio  was  his 
original ;  the  fable  and  characters  are  the 

1Z.c.,  vol.  II.  p.  473.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  re- 
view of  Godwin's  book  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  can  \f 
only  find  its  equal  for  severity  in  Lowell's  criticism  on 
Masson's  Milton,  on  this  point  rejected  Tyrwhitt's  opin- 
ion in  favor  of  Godwin's.  (  Works  of  Dryden,  ed.  Scott- 
Saintsbury,  vol.  VI.  p.  243.) 


28  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

same  in  both  poems,  and  numerous  pas- 
sages of  the  Filostrato  are  literally  trans- 
lated." 1 

After  such  a  clear  statement  of  the 
case  as  this,  it  was  certainly  "far  ritroso 
calle,"  when,  twenty  years  later,  G.  L. 
Craik  in  his  Sketches  of  the  History  of 
Literature  and  Learning  in  England  from 
the  Norman  Conquest  to  the  Accession  of 
Elizabeth,  not  only  refused  to  credit  the 
Filostrato  as  being  the  source  of  the 
Troilus,  but  asserted  that  Chaucer  was 
quite  ignorant  of  the  Italian  language,2  a 
position  in  conflict  with  the  undisputed 
statements  of  Lydgate  and  W.  Thynne.8 
Again  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  in  his  Life  of 
Chaucer,  prefixed  to  the  Aldine  edition  of 

1  The  Poems  of  G.  Chaucer,  Chiswick,  1822,  vol.  I. 
p.  xix. ;  cf.  p.  xvi. 

2  Sketches,  etc.,  1844,  vol.  II.  pp.  47-53.     Again  in  his 
History  of  English  Literature,  1861,  vol.  I.  pp.  272-276. 

8  With  Lydgate's  statement  concerning  the  source  of 
the  Troilus  may  be  compared  his  problematical  lines  con- 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  29 

Chaucer,  in  1845,  took  the  same  position, 
remarking  that  those  who  thought  differ- 
ently were  but  "indiscriminate  worship- 
pers of  genius  who  endow  their  idols 
with  all  human  attainments."  1 

cerning  a  translation  made  by  Chaucer,  Tragedies,  etc., 
sig.  a  2  verso,  col.  1. 

"  He  wrote  also  full  many  a  day  agone 

Dant  in  English,  himselfe  so  doth  expresse." 
On  interpretation  of  his  passage,  cf.  W.  W.  Skeat's  to- 
tally wrong  one,  Chaucer's  Minor  Poems,  pp.  xi-xii. ; 
2d  ed.,  p.  477.  E.  Koeppel,  Laurent  Premierfaits  und  J. 
Lydgates  Bearbeitungen,  etc.,  p.  82.  Anglia,  vol.  XIII. 
p.  186.  Lounsbury,  I.e.,  vol.  II.  p.  425.  Depending 
upon  this  statement,  Speght  in  his  1598  Chaucer  gives  in 
the  list  of  the  poet's  works,  Dantem  Italum  transtulit 
followed  by  the  statement,  Petrarchce  qucedam  transtulit, 
(sig.  c  1  recto),  but  both  these  statements  are  omitted  in 
the  1602  edition.  Thynne,  who,  as  has  been  noticed 
(p.  24,  n.  2),  was  the  first  to  point  out  the  source  of  the 
Knight's  Tale,  has  elsewhere  the  statement,  "unleste  a 
manne  be  a  good  saxoniste,  frenche  and  Italyane  linguiste 
(from  whence  Chaucer  has  borrowed  manye  words)." 
Animadversions,  p.  31 ;  cf.  p.  43.  Against  Craik's  opin- 
ion, cf.  Fiedler,  Herrigs  Archiv,  vol.  II.  p.  151;  Kiss- 
ner,  Chaucer,  etc.,  p.  6 ;  ten  Brink,  Chaucer,  p.  186. 

1  Works  of  Chaucer   .   .    .    1845,   vol.  I.  p.  25;  Yet 
he  quotes  Lydgate's  statement  on  the  matter  (p.  100.), 


30  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

i  In  his  edition  of  Chaucer  published 
1854-1856,  KJIell  showed  that  he  could 
believe  the  evidence  of  his  own  eyes.  In 
his  Memoir  of  Chaucer  he  notices  that 
no  such  author  "  called  Lollius,"  or  book 
"  called  Trophe,"  had  ever  been  discov- 
ered, accepting  the  opinion  of  Tyrwhitt 
upon  the  first  point  to  the  prejudice  of 
that  of  Godwin.1  He  did  not  consider 
seriously  Nicolas's  opinion  upon  Chaucer's 
knowledge  of  Italian;  besides  making  the 
general  statement  that  "  the  substance  of 
the  poem,  which  Chaucer  amplified  and 
altered,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Filostrato 
of  Boccaccio," 2  in  the  Introduction  to  the 

and  Tyrwhitt's  remarks  on  the  source  of  the  Troilus,  in 
his  Essay  on  the  Language  and  Versification  of  Chaucer, 
which  is  reprinted  in  this  edition,  is  found  later  on  (I.e., 
pp.  225-226,  n.).  This  note  is  omitted  in  Morris's  edi- 
tion of  1866,  where  Skeat's  treatment  of  the  versification 
is  substituted  for  that  of  Tyrwhitt  (vol.  I.  p.  172). 

1  Poetical  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  edited  by  Rob- 
ert Bell,  vol.  I.  p.  14 ;  cf .  vol.  III.  p.  10. 

2  l.c.,  vol.  I.  p.  14. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  31 

Troilus,  the  general  features  of  the  two 
poems  are  compared  and  at  the  same  time 
examples  of  Chaucer's  mode  of  translation 
are  noted,  while  parallel  passages  from 
the  Italian  poem  are  cited  in  notes  to 
the  text.1  It  is  noted  that  the  earliest 
source  of  the  story  was  "  a  prose  chron- 
icle ...  by  Guido  de  Colonna,"  which 
must  have  been  drawn  "from  some  met- 
rical romance  extant  in  his  time/'  and 
the  fact  that  Chaucer  elsewhere  mentions 
Guido  denoted  that  he  was  acquainted 
with  him  "  either  through  his  works  or 
reputation."  Lydgate's  "  Trophe  "  is  ex- 
plained as  "a  name  denoting  Troylus's 
change  of  fortune."2 

It  was   by  others   than   English  editors 

1  l.c.,  vol.  V.  pp.  10-14,  17-254 ;  VI.  pp.  5-52. 

2  Z.c.,  vol.  V.  pp.  9-10.     The   collaboration   of  Rev. 
J.  M.  Jephson  in  this  edition  may  be  noted.     The  infor- 
mation of  the  editors  about  Lollius  Urbicus,  the  Roman 
de  Troilus, — which  they  regard  as  the  original  of  Guido, 
when,  in  fact,  it  is  a  translation  of  Boccaccio's  poem,  — 


32  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

of  Chaucer  that  the  next  step  forward 
was  made,  in  the  study  of  the  sources  of 
the  Troilus.  In  1858  L.  Moland  and  C. 
D'H^ricault,  in  the  Introduction  to  their 
edition  of  Nouvelles  Francoises  en  prose 
du  XIV6  siecle,  in  giving  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  literary  history  of  Troilus, 
were  the  first  to  point  out  that  the  Filo- 
strato  had  its  antecedents  in  the  Roman 
de  Troie  of  Benoit  de  Sainte-More/  and 
Guido  delle  Colonne's2  Historia  Trojanaf 
and  had  no  doubt  that  the  English  poem 
was  in  the  main  an  imitation  of  the  Italian 
poem.4  To  explain  the  name  Lollius  they 
suggested  that  as  the  late  fourteenth-cen- 
tury French  romance  Le  Livre  de  Troilus 

and  the  Historia  Trojana,  as  an  authority  on  the  siege 
of  Thebes,  is  taken  from  Warton  without  acknowledg- 
ment. Cf.  E.  Koeppel,  Lydgate's  Story  of  Thebes,  p.  17. 

1  "  Benoit  de   Saint  Maur,"  as  they  write  it  (Nou- 
velles Francois,  pp.  lix,  lx.). 

2  "  Guido  delle  Columne,"  "  Guy  des  Colonnes,"  (I.e., 
p.  Ixxx.).  8  I.e.,  pp.  lix.-xciii.  4  I.e.,  xci.-xcviii. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  33 

was  stated  by  its  author  to  be  a  translation 
of  the  Filostrato  "  compose  par  un  poethe 
florentin  nomme  Petrarque," *  Chaucer,  not 
knowing  the  name  of  the  author  of  his 
original,  adopted  that  of  Lollius.2  Their 
suggestion,  which  was  only  hazarded  in  a 
note,  concerning  Lydgate's  Trophe,  can 
only  be  given  in  their  own  words:  "In- 
diquons  que  troplie  represente  assez  bien  le 
vieux  mot  trufe,  truphe  (bourde,  trompe- 
rie),  italianise.  Chaucer  a-t-il  truphe  Lyd- 
gate  ou  Lydgate  le  public."  3 

Sandras  was  the  first  to  suggest  that 
the  work  of  Benoit  might  be  the  direct 
source  of  certain  passages  in  the  Troilus, 
in  his  Etude  sur  Chaucer  considers  comme 
imitateur  des  trouveres,  published  in  1859, 
printing  a  number  of  passages  from  the 
unedited  Roman  de  Troie  to  substantiate 

1  Z.c.,  pp.  ci,  120.  2  I.e.,  xcviii.-c. 

8  I.e.,  p.  c.,  n.  They  were  not  acquainted  with  Chau- 
cer's own  mention  of  "  Trophe." 


34  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

his  conjecture,  but  his  parallel  citations 
are  neither  definite  nor  full  enough  to 
be  conclusive.  He,  too,  thinks  that  Boc- 
caccio is  hidden  under  the  name  of  Lol- 
lius.1 

In  1862  A.  Ebert,  in  his  brief  recension 
of  the  work  of  Sandras,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  while  there  was  reason  to 
justify  the  assumption  that  Chaucer  had 
recourse  to  other  works  than  the  Filos- 
trato,  there  was  not  evidence  enough  to 
show  whether  it  was  to  the  work  of 
Benoit  or  to  that  of  Guido  —  which  he 
regarded  as  an  original  production  —  he 
was  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  epi- 
sodes, not  found  in  the  Italian  poem.2 

In  1867  Kissner  clearly  showed  by  the 
citation  of  parallel  passages  that  the  Eng- 
lish poem  was  in  large  part  a  translation 

1  fitude,  etc.,  pp.  42-50,  263-283 ;  cf .  Hertzberg,  Jahr. 
der  deutschen  Shakespeare-Gesellschaft,  vol.  VI.  p.  202. 

2  Jahr.f.  rom.  u.  engl.  Lit.,  vol.  IV.  pp.  89-91. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLOGNE  35 

of  Boccaccio's  work,  in  which  the  order 
of  the  stanzas,  the  verses,  and  even  the 
rime  of  the  original  were  adhered  to  as 
closely  as  possible,1  took  the  same  posi- 
tion as  Ebert  in  regard  to  Chaucer's  other 
sources  for  the  story,  considering  Guido, 
however,  as  a  plagiarist.2  He  believed 
that  by  Lollius,  Boccaccio  was  intended,  — 
a  Deliberate  expedient  used  elsewhere  by 
the  English  poet  to  mystify  his  readers.3 
"  Trophe/'  mentioned  by  Chaucer  in  the 
Monkes  Tale,  he  supposed  referred  to  the 
De  Casibus  Virorum  of  Boccaccio.4 

In  the  same  year  Henry  Morley,  in  his 

1  A.    Kissner,    Chaucer    in    seinen    Beziehungen    zur 
italienischen  Literature,  Bonn,  1867,  pp.  12-22,  25-58. 

2  I.e.,  pp.  22-25. 

8  I.e.,  pp.  7-9.  Cf .  Hertzberg,  Chaucers  Canterbury- 
geschichten,  1866,  pp.  42,  44;  JaJir.  f.  rom.  u.  engl.  Lit., 
vol.  VIII.  pp.  154-155.  Henry  Bradshaw  independently 
reached  the  same  conclusion,  G.  W.  Prothero,  Memoir  of 
H.  Bradshaw,  p.  216.  For  a  conflicting  view,  cf.  Louns- 
bury,  I.e.,  vol.  II.  p.  413. 

4  Kissner,  I.e.,  p.  8. 


36  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

English  Writers,  gave  a  comparative  analy- 
sis of  the  two  poems,  noting  that  Chaucer's 
version  "  was  more  than  half  as  long 
again  as  its  original/'  1  and  proved  to 
his  own  satisfaction  that  "  Latin "  was 
Italian/  that  the  English  poet,  in  "  his 
labour  towards  the  elevation  of  the  Filo- 
strato" 3  "  with  a  parable  of  Scripture  in 
his  mind,  out  of  Lolium,  the  Latin  for  a 
tare,  probably  contrived  for  Boccaccio  a 
name  that  he  thought  justly  significant/'4 
and  that  Lydgate  referred  to  the  Filostrato 
as  "  Trophe/'  because  "  it  evidently  points 
to  Criseyde's  perfidy,  and  is  related  to 
Tponr),  a  turning."  5  He  also  noted  that 
the  additions  to  the  narrative  concerning 

1  English  Writers,  1867,  vol.  II.  Part  I.  pp.  237-243. 
To  give  preciseness  to  his  comparison,  without  regard 
to  the  amount  utilized  by  the  English  poet,  he  states 
that  the  Filostrato  contains  5352  lines,  and  the  Troilus, 
8251.    Cf.  Rossetti,  Comparison,  etc.,  p.  iii. ;  Skeat,  Works 
of  Chaucer,  1894,  vol.  II.  pp.  xlix-1. 

2  l.c.,  p.  243.  3  iCtj  p.  244,  n.  4  I.e.,  p.  243. 
6  l.c.,  p.  221,  n. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  37 

the  actions  of  the  heroine  in  the  Greek 
camp,  and  her  dialogue  with  Diomedes  and 
with  her  father/  show  that  Chaucer  was 
acquainted  with  either  the  work  of  Benoit 
or  the  Latin  version  of  Guido.2 

In  a  communication  to  the  Athenceum 
for  Sept.  26,  1868,  are  set  forth  the  views 
of  W.  M.  Rossetti,  who  regarded  Lydgate's 
"  Trophe"  ~as~lhe  English  "trophy,"  a 
trophy  or  victim  of  love,  which  corre- 
sponds to  Boccaccio's  own  definition  of  the 
title  of  the  Filostrato  ;  and  hence  the  term 
"  Trophe  "  is  applied  to  that  work  by  Lyd- 
gate.  Chaucer,  as  the  French  translator, 
considered  Petrarch-itS-author,  and  referred 
f.o  JTJJP  a.a  LoTHns  in  the  Troilus  and  the 
Hous  of  Fame,  —  though  he  introduces 
him  with  his  real  name  in  the  Clerkes  Tale 
—  because  one  of  his  correspondents  ad- 

1  This  is  one  of  the  points  wrongly  made  by  Sandras 
and  rectified  by  Hertzberg,  Jahrbuch  der  Shakespeare- 
Gesellschaft,  vol.  VI.  p.  202.  2  I.e.,  p.  243. 


38  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

dressed  him  as  Laelius.1  This  communi- 
cation led  Latham,  in  the  next  number  of 
•n  the  same  journal,  to  offer  his  most  ingen- 
ious explanation  of  Lollius.  He  suggested 
that  Chaucer  got  the  idea  that  Lollius  was 
a  writer  on  the  Trojan  war  by  the  misin- 
terpretation prevalent  in  Chaucer's  time 
of  the  opening  lines  of  one  of  the  Epistles 
of  Horace, 

"  Trojani  belli  scriptorem,  maxime  Lolli 
Dum  tu  declamas  Romse,  Prseneste  relegi " 
(Ep.  I,  2), 

which  gave  the  idea  that  "  the  name  of 
the  person  addressed  had  become  attached 
to  the  person  written  about." 2 

1  Rossetti,  in  his  Chaucer's  Troylus  and  Cryseyde 
compared  with  Boccaccio's  Filostrato,  1873,  pp.  vii.-viii., 
gives  up  his  explanation  of  Lollius  in  favor  of  that  of 
Latham,  but  still  credits  his  own  explanation  of  Trophe. 

2Athenceum,  Oct.  3,  1868,  p.  433.  Rossetti,  Com- 
parison, etc.,  p.  vii.,  writes  that  this  suggestion  was  "  made 
or  rather  repeated"  in  the  place  cited;  but  I  am  not 
acquainted  with  its  earlier  mention. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  39 

Hertzberg,  in  his  review  of  Kissner's 
book,  accepted  his  thesis  in  full,1  and  to 
obviate  the  difficulty  of  the  "  Trophe " 
question  suggested  that  the  line  on  the 
Monkes  Tale 

"  At  both  the  worldes  endes,  saith  Trophe  " 
should  be  read, 

"  At  both  the  Worldes  endes,  as  Trophe," 

even  though  the  false  reading  was  as  old 
as  Lydgate's  time.2 

Ten  Brink,  in  his  literary  study  of 
Chaucer,  accepted  Tyrwhitt's  suggestion 
that  by  "  Latin "  Italian  was  meant,  Ros- 
setti's  explanation  of  Lydgate's  "Trophe" 
and  Hertzberg's  correction  of  the  Chau- 
cerian text,3  and  in  confirmation  of  La- 
tham's conjecture  about  "  Lollius  "  —  a 

lJahr.f.  rom.  u.  engl.  Lit.,  vol.  VIII.  (1866),  pp.  156- 
162.  2/.c.,  p.  155. 

8  Chaucer,  Studien  zur  Geschichte  seiner  Entwickelung, 
pp.  68-70,  182-184. 


40  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

conclusion  he  had  arrived  at  independently 
—  suggested  that  it  was  not  due  to  a  cur- 
rent misinterpretation,  but  that  in  the 
manuscript  of  Horace  used  by  Chaucer, 
the  incorrect  readings  scriptorum  and  te 
legi  substituted  for  scrip  tor  em  and  relegi.1 
He  also  noticed  that  details  in  the  Tro- 
ilus  were  due  to  the  work  of  either  Be- 

ll.c.,  pp.  85-87.  Skeat,  Works  of  Chaucer,  ed.  1878, 
vol.  L,  p.  18,  n.  Chaucer,  The  Minor  Poems,  1888,  p.  359, 
Works  of  Chaucer,  1894  (vol.  III.  p.  278),  and  Rossetti 
(I.e.,  p.  359).  Works  of  Chaucer,  1894  (vol.  III.  p.  278) 
and  Rossetti  (I.e.,  p.  vii.)  accept  Latham's  suggestion  as 
almost  a  certainty.  Joly  (Benoit  de  Ste.  Maure,  etc.,  vol. 
I.  pp.  216-217),  and  Hertzberg  (Shakespeare  Jahr.  vol. 
VI.,  p.  201,  n.  2)  concur  in  general  statement  of  both 
Latham  and  ten  Brink,  without  expressing  their  precise 
position  in  regard  to  secondary  matters.  Yet  Lounsbury 
(I.e.,  vol.  II.  p.  410)  states  that  "  By  no  stretch  of  lan- 
guage can  [it]  be  regarded  as  probable."  Yet  the  main 
premise  for  this  opinion  —  to  wit,  that  when  Chaucer 
could  translate  a  philosophical  work,  the  De  Consolatione 
of  Boethius,  he  would  not  have  made  the  slip  of  mistak- 
ing a  genitive  for  an  ablative  —  is  somewhat  vitiated, 
when  we  consider  that  a  French  translation  of  the  Latin 
work  was  Chaucer's  original.  Cf.  Rossetti,  Comparison, 
p.  vii.,  n. ;  M.  H.  Liddell,  Globe  Chaucer,  p.  xl. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  41 

noit  or  Guido  or  of  both,  but  the  sugges- 
tion is  confessedly  not  his  own.1 

In  1869-1870,  by  the  quite  indepen- 
dent investigations  of  Dunger  and  Joly, 
the  impudent  plagiarisim  of  the  Roman 
de  Troie  by  Guido  delle  Colonne  was  put 
beyond  a  doubt  by  extensive  comparisons 
of  the  French  and  Latin  works;2  but 

i/.c.,p.85. 

2  A.  Joly,  Benoit  de  Ste.  Maure  et  le  Roman  de  Troie, 
1870-1871,  vol.  II.  470-484.  H.  Dunger,  Die  Sage  vom 
trojanischen  Kriege  in  den  Bearbeitungen  des  Mittelalters 
und  ihren  antiken  Quellen,  Leipzig,  1869,  pp.  39,  61-64. 
Tyrwhitt  was  acquainted  with  both  works,  and  suspected 
that  the  Roman  de  Troie  was  the  direct  source  of  Guide's 
work,  but  "  a  full  discussion  of  the  point  by  a  comparison 
of  Guide's  work  with  the  Roman  de  Troye,  would  require 
more  time  and  pains  than  I  am  inclined  to  bestow  on  it " 
(note  to  C.  T.,  15147,  Works  of  Chaucer,  p.  204.  Cf. 
note  to  C.  T.,  14914,  p.  204,  pp.  471,  486).  Warton  in  his 
first  volume  of  his  History  of  English  Poetry  (1774)  only 
mentioned  Guido  as  the  author  of  an  original  work  upon 
the  Troy  legend,  for  the  sources  of  which  he  accepts  the 
author's  own  statements,  and  "from  which  Chaucer  de- 
rived his  ideas  about  the  Trojan  story"  (vol.  I.  (1774), 
pp.  126-127 ;  cf.  pp.  138,  385,  vol.  II.  pp.  82-83,  91-92,  97, 
on  acquaintance  with  Guido's  work ;  cf .  E.  Koeppel,  Lyd- 


42  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

these  two  scholars  in  their  orientations  of 
the  whole  mediaeval  Troy  legend,  only 
touched  incidentally  upon  the  matter  of 
the  original  of  Chaucer's  Troilus,  and 
failed  to  notice  the  secondary  sources 

gate's  Story  of  Thebes,  pp.  16-17),  and  knew  of  Benoit's 
work  and  its  subject  at  only  second  hand  (vol.  I.  p.  136). 
In  a  note  in  the  second  volume,  from,  information  unques- 
tionably received  from  Tyrwhitt,  he  speaks  of  "  the  an- 
cient metrical  one  of  Benoit,  to  whom,  I  believe,  Colonna 
is  much  indebted"  (vol.  II.  (1778)  p.  99,  n.).  Francis 
Douce,  in  his  Illustrations  of  Shakespeare,  published  in  1807, 
stated  that  he  had  made  the  comparison  suggested  by 
Tyrwhitt,  and  found  that  Guido  had  "  only  translated  the 
Norman  writer  into  Latin  "  (vol.  II.  pp.  65-66),  but  his 
correct  conclusion,  even  if  the  detailed  results  were  not 
published,  did  not  seem  to  be  generally  known,  even 
though  it  found  its  way  into  such  a  popular  work  as  Dun- 
lop's  History  of  Fiction  (pp.  175-176,  ed.  1845).  In  1857 
Fromman  expressed  the  opinion  that  Guide's  work  was 
nothing  but  a  translation  of  the  French  poem  (Germania, 
vol.  II.  p.  52),  while  in  1858  Moland  and  d'Hericault 
(I.e.,  p.  Ixxx.)  regarded  the  Latin  work  as  "  une  amplifi- 
cation de  1'ouvrage  de  Daures  —  mais  aux  merites  de  la- 
quelle  Benoit  de  Saint-Maur  n'a  pas  per  contribue."  Pey 
in  the  next  year  (Jahr.f.  rom.  und  engl.  Lit.,  1. 228)  fostered 
the  theory  that  both  Guido  and  Benoit  based  their  works 
upon  an  original  unabridged  text  of  Dares,  which  has  not 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  43 

which,  contributed  to  the  story  of  the 
English  poem.1  Joly,  to  be  sure,  men- 
tioned Latham's  and  ten  Brink's  sugges- 
tion as  if  it  were  his  own,  and  proposed 
that  Lydgate's  line, 

"  Of  a  boke  whiche  called  is  Trophe," 

if  restored  to  its  probably  true  reading, 
which  could  so  easily  have  been  cor- 
rupted, 

"  Of  a  boke  whiche  called  is  Strophe," 

come  down  to  us.  This  view  was  accepted  by  Ebert  (I.e., 
vol.  IV.  p.  90)  and  Cholevius  (Geschichte  der  deutschen 
Poesie,  vol.  I.  pp.  111-112)  ;  but  regarded  with  doubt  by 
Kissner  (I.e.,  p.  23,  n.),  and  one  would  have  thought 
finally  disposed  of  by  Hertzberg  (I.e.,  pp.  187-194),  who 
like  Barth  (Guido  de  C alumna,  p.  19)  and  Morf  (Rom., 
vol.  XXI.  pp.  18-21)  denied  Guido  even  an  acquaintance 
with  the  Dares  as  we  have  it;  if  Koerting  (Dictys  and 
Dares,  1874,  pp.  67,  95  ;  Boccaccio,  1881,  pp.  586-587)  and 
Greif  (Die  mittelalterlichen  Bearbeitungen  der  Trojanersage, 
p.  62)  had  not  adopted  it  as  a  thesis  the  maintenance  of 
which  was  all  important,  and  if  Constans  (Hist,  de  la  lit- 
terature  et  langue  francaise,  vol.  I.  p.  215,  n.  1)  did  not 
seem  half  inclined  to  accept  their  conclusions. 
1  Joly,  I.e.,  p.  515 ;  Dunger,  I.e.,  p.  36. 


44  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

would  refer  to  the  Italian  poem,  thus  de- 
noted on  account  of  its  metrical  structure.1 

W.  Hertzberg  in  a  study  upon  the  Tro- 
ilus  legend  independently  reached  the 
same  general  conclusions,  and,  in  com- 
menting upon  Kissner's  results,  noted  that 
while  only  two-thirds  of  the  5288  lines 
of  the  Filostrato  had  been  used  in  the 
Troilus,  that  the  English  poem  contained 
8251  lines.  He  further  pointed  out  three 
passages  in  the  Troilus  which  might 
equally  as  well  have  come  from  either 
the  work  of  Benoit  or  Guido,  and  three 
others  which  from  the  similarity  of  lan- 
guage could  only  have  had  their  sources 
in  the  French  poem.2 

F.  Mamroth  in  his  work,  G.  Chaucer, 
seine  zeit  und  Seine  AbhaengigJceit  von  Boc- 

i  Joly,  Z.c.,  p.  216-217,  493. 

2Jahr.  der  deutschen  Shakespeare-Gesellschaft,  vol.  VI. 
(1871),  pp.  201-205.  I  refer  to  this  article  as  Hertz- 
berg,  I.e. 


TO   GUIBO  DELLE  COLONNE  45 

caccio,  although  not  doubting  the  Italian 
source  of  the  Troilus,  upon  the  authority 
of  Bell  and  Hertzberg,  still  thought  God- 
win's view  worthy  of  an  analysis.1 

W.  M.  Rossetti  said. _  the  final  word 
upon  the  Filostrato-Troilus  question  by 
the  publication  in  1873  of  his  line-for-line 
comparison  of  the  two  poems,  showing 
that  somewhat  less  than  a  third  of  the 
English  poem  was  taken  directly  from 
the  Filostrato?  Although  he  gives  an 
analysis  of  the  Troilus  story  in  the 
Roman  de  Troie  for  the  sake  of  setting 
it  off  against  that  given  in  the  Italian 
poem,  he  nowhere  suggests  that  Chaucer 
adopted  hints  from  the  French  poet,  or 
his  Latin  plagiarist  —  concerning  whose 
work  he  accepts  the  opinion  of  Moland 
and  d'Hericault.3 

1  G.  Chaucer,  etc.,  Berlin,  1872,  pp.  49  ff. 

2  Comparison,  etc.,  p.  iii. 

8 1.  c.,  pp.  v.-vi.    R.  Fischer's  Die  Troilus-Epen  von  Boc* 


46  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

In  1867  J.  Koch  expressed  the  opinion 
that  Chaucer  possessed  Boccaccio's  works, 
of  which  he  made  such  liberal  use  in  his 
own  poems  in  a  manuscript  or  manuscripts 
which  did  not  give  the  name  of  the  author, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  Filostrato,  as  in 
that  of  other  works,  in  order  to  give  it  an 
author,  attributed  it  to  one  Lollius,  whose 
name  he  may  have  come  upon  in  the  lines 
of  Horace,  cited  by  Latham  and  ten 
Brink.1 

In  1877  M.  Landau,  who  supplemented 
Kissner's  results  by  researches  in  the  com- 
parison of  the  English  and  Italian  poems, 
noting  that  Chaucer  had  translated  liter- 
ally some  1200  verses  of  his  original, 
advocated  the  view  that  the  English 

caccio  und  Chaucer  (in  Zu  den  Kunstformen  des  mittelalter- 
lichen  Epos.  Weiner  Beitrage  zur  englischen  Philologie, 
vol.  IX.  (1899)  pp.  217-370)  offers  nothing  new  on  the 
question.  It  is  a  comparison  of  the  sesthetic  value  of  two 
poems,  stated  in  percentages. 

i  Englische  Studien,  vol.  I.  pp.  291-292. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  47 

poet  was  ashamed  to  mention  a  modern 
writer  in  Italian  as  Boccaccio,  and  there- 
fore had_  adopted  a  Latin  name  which  he 
cited  AS  hifl  authority.1 

Ten  Brink,  in  his  Geschichte  der  Eng- 
lischen  Litteratur,  published  in  1893,  notes 
where  Chaucer  had  made  use  of  the  work  of 
Benoit  at  one  point  in  his  narrative,  "Und 
begierig  greift  er  aus  Benoits  Darstellung 
Ziige  auf,  die  zur  Entschuldigung  seiner 
Heldin  gereichen  konnen.  Erst  dem  von 
Troilus  verwundeten  Diomed  schenkt  sie, 
von  Mitgef iihl  geruhrt,  ihr  Herz ;  und 
der  Untreue  folgt  die  Reue  auf  dem 
Fusse," 2  and  in  discussing  the  sources  of 
the  Legend  of  Good  Women,  he  calls  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  if  in  this  poem 
Chaucer  has  preferred  Guido  as  a  source 
rather  than  Benoit,  it  is  the  opposite  of 
what  he  did  in  the  Troilus. 8 

1  Boccaccio,  pp.  92-94. 

2  Geschichte,  vol.  II.  p.  95.  8/.c.,  p.  116. 


48  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

In    1892   Loafflsh.uxy,    who    seemed    to 
think  that  the  work  of  Guido  was  one  of 
*    /the  English  poet's  sources  for  the  Legend? 
\J  stated    that   "  Chaucer    knew    nothing    of 
/    Benoit."2     In  1894  Skeat,  who  in  earlier 
/      contributions,  when    he    had    occasion    to 
touch    on    the    subject,    accepted    without 
comment   the   views   of   others   upon   the 
Filostrato-Troilus  and  "Lollius"  questions 
with  his  usual  disregard  of  the  antecedent 
work  of  others,  writing  as  if  he  were  the 
first  to  suggest  the  possible   indebtedness 
of  Chaucer  to  Guido,  pointed   out  details 
in  the  Troilus  which  he  thought  had  their 
origin    in    the    Latin    work,  and    cited    a 
number  of  passages  of  the  Historia   Tro- 
jana  from  an  inferior  manuscript  to  prove 
his    thesis.     "Trophe, "    as   mentioned   by 
both   Chaucer   and   Lydgate,  according  to 

1  Studies  in  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  pp.  313-314:. 

2  l.c.,  vol.  II.  p.  309. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  49 

his  view,  was  Guide's  work;1  but  he  did 
not  fail  to  note  where,  in  the  Troilus, 
Chaucer  was  unquestionably  indebted  to 
the  Roman  de  Troie? 

W.  J.  Courthope  in  his  History  of  Eng- 
lish Poetry  regarded  the  use  of  Lollius  as 
a  deliberate  mystification,  on  the  part  of 
Chaucer,  to  mislead  his  readers.  As  the 
authority  of  a  work  to  which  he  wished  to 
give  a  moral  tone,  Boccaccio  "even  if  he 
had  not  provoked  the  censure  of  the  church, 
would  have  carried  no  historical  weight "  ; 
and  "  therefore  to  create  for  his  imagi- 
nary history,  an  imaginary  historian/'  he 
referred  to  "the  Latin  of  the  supposed 
Trojan  historian  Lollius."  To  fill  out 
the  story  as  he  found  it  in  the  Filo- 
strato,  "he  borrowed  numerous  incidents 
and  touches  of  a  highly  dramatic  kin 

1  Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  pp.  liii.-lxi. 

2  I.e.,  pp.  Ixi.-lxii.,  Ixxx. 


50  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

from  the  Historia  Trojana  of  Guido  delle 
Colonne."  1 

Finally ,  J.  W.  Broatch,  in  an  article2 
in  which  he  is  assuredly  "amicus  Pla- 
tonis/'  totally  denies  the  claims  of  the 
Historia  as  set  forth  by  Skeat,  as  one  of 
the  joint  sources  of  the  English  poem. 
Unfortunately  he  rests  his  case  mainly 
upon  his  own  arbitrary  statements,  which 
are  not,  and  cannot  be  substantiated  by 
citations  from  the  work  of  either  Benoit 
or  Guido. 


Of  the  known  authors  to  whom  Chaucer 
could  have  had  recourse  for  the  story  of 

1  Hist.  ofEng.  Poetry,  vol.  I.  pp.  262-263. 

2  Journal  of  Germanic  Philology,  vol.  II.  (1898)   pp. 
14-28.     W.  S.  McCormick  seems  to  accept  Broatch's  con- 
clusion when  he  states,  "For  the  development  of  the 
story  in  Book  V.  Chaucer  evidently  consulted  the  Roman 
de    Troie  of  Benoit  de  Sainte-More,  possibly  also  the 
Historia  Troiana  of  Guido  delle  Colonne."    Globe  Chaucer, 
p.  xli. ;  cf .  pp.  543,  546,  553. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  51 

the  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  Guido  delle 
Colonne1  is  the  only  one  whom  he  men- 
tions by  name  in  any  of  his  works.  In  the 
Sous  of  Fame,2  in  the  list  of  the  historians 
of  Troy,  he  groups  together 

"  the  great  Omeer  ; 
And  with  him  Dares  and  Tytus 
Before,  and  eek  he,  Lollius, 
And  Guido  eek  de  Columpnis;" 

and  by  this  mention  of  Lollius,  removes 
any  chance  for  the  conjecture  that  by  this 
name  Guido  was  meant.  Again,  in  his 
Legend  of  Good  Women,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  story  of  Hypsipyle  and  Medea,  he 
mentions  Guido  as  his  authority. 

"Tessalye,  as  Guido  telleth  us."3 

1  The  name  always  appears  as  "  de  Columpnis "  in 
autograph  signatures :  (F.  Torraca,  Giornale  Dantesco, 
vol.  V.  pp.  271-277 ;  Studi  su  la  lirica  italiana  del  Due- 
cento,  1902,  pp.  449-452),  and  in  the  best  manuscripts  of 
the  Historia.  2  H.  of  F.,  1466-1469. 

8  L.  of  G.  W.,  1396.  Skeat  was  the  first,  in  1889,  to 
restore  the  correct  manuscript  reading,  "  Guido,"  which 


52  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

And  when  he  leaves  him  to  follow  another 
author,  he  notifies  his  readers :  — 

"  Al  be  this  not  rehersed  of  Guido, 
Yet  seith  Ovyde  in  his  Epistles  so."1 

A  careful  study  of  the  subject  has  shown 
the  truthfulness  of  the  poet's  statement, 
and  pointed  out  his  exact  indebtedness  to 
both  the  authors  mentioned.2 

had  before  always  been  printed  as  "  Ovyde."  The  Legend 
of  Good  Women,  1889,  pp.  xxxi.,  167.  Works  of  G. 
Chaucer,  1894,  vol.  II.  p.  liv. 

1  L.  of  G.  W.,  1464-1465. 

2  Bech,  Anglia,  vol.  V.  pp.  324,  329-330,  on  Guido  as 
source ;  cf .  Legend  of  Good  Women,  p.  xxxi. ;  Lounsbury, 
I.e.,  vol.  II.  p.  313 ;  J.  W.  Broatch,  Journal  of  Germanic 
Philology,  vol.  II.  pp.  22-23.    Chaucer,  in  following  Guido, 
who  substituted  Ovid's  "  Thessalia  "  for  Benoit's  "Grece," 
perhaps  to  escape  the  difficulty  found  in  the  French  poet's 
transformation  of  Dares's  "  Peloponneso  "  into  "  Penolope  " 
(R.  de  T.,  712;    on  source  of  name  in  Dares,  cf.  Dun- 
ger,  I.e.,  p.  15 ;  Koerting,  Dictys  and  Dares,  p.  73),  which 
gave  a  Middle  English  translator  trouble  (The  Seege  of 
Troye,  edited  by  C.  H.  A.  Wager,  1889,  v.  25 ;  cf.  p.  lix.), 
although  acquainted  with  Dares,  does  not,  here  or  else- 
where (L.  of  G.  W.,  1397,  1400,  1409 ;  cf .  p.  167),  correct 
"Pelleus  "  into  "Pelias"  (cf.  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  121 ;  Joly, 
I.e.,  vol.  L  p.  222,  n.;  H.  Morf,  Rom,  vol.  XXI.  p.  89). 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  53 

And  in  the  Hous  of  Fame  he  refers 
anonymously  to  him  as  an  authority  for 
an  opinion  which  he  himself  does  not  seem 
to  accept. 

"  But  yit  I  gan  ful  wel  espye, 
Betwix  hem  was  a  litel  envye, 
Oon  seyde,  Omere  made  lyes, 
Feyninge  in  his  poetryes, 
And  was  to  Grekes  favorable ; 
Therfor  held  he  hit  but  fable."1 

For  in  Benoit's  poem  there  is  no  passage 
corresponding  in  the  least  to  Guido's  long 
invective  against  Homer. 

After  telling  of  the  treacherous  slaying 
of  Troilus  by  his  Greek  opponent,  Guido 
goes  on :  — 

"  Sed  o  homere  qui  in  libris  tuis  achillem  tot 
laudibus  tot  preconiis  extulisti ;  quse  probabilis 
ratio  te  induxit  ut  achillem  tantis  probitatis 

Lydgate,  who  had  followed  others  in  this  mistake  in  his 
Troy-book,  repeats  it  in  his  Tragedies  (sig.  c  1  verso, 
col.  1). 

*H.of  P.,  1475-1480. 


54  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

titulis  exaltasses,  ex  eo  precipue  quod  dixeris 
achillem  ipsum  suis  viribus  duos  hectores  pere- 
misse  ipsum  videlecet  et  troilum  fortissimum 
fratrem  ejus.  Sane  si  te  induxit  grecorum 
affectio  a  quibus  originem  diceris  produxisse 
vera  non  motus  diceris  ratione,  sed  potius  ex 
furore."1 

1  Historia,  sig.  1  2  verso,  col.  2.  Benoit's  only  comment 
on  Homer  (R.  de  T.,  45-66  =  Dares,  De  Excidio  Troice, 
ed.  Meister,  1,  13-17)  is  to  the  effect  that  his  statements 
could  not  be  true,  as  he  lived  one  hundred  years  after 
the  Trojan  war,  arid  that  the  Athenians 

"  Dampner  le  voldrent  par  raison 
Por  ce  qu'ot  fet  les  Damedeus 
Conbatre  o  les  homes  charneus  " 

(R.  de  T.,  60-62 ;  cf.  Constans,  Revue  des  Universites  du 
Midi,  vol.  IV.  pp.  36,  53),  which  Guido  translated  in  its 
proper  place.  Historia,  sig.  a  1  recto,  col.  1-2.  It  is  of 
this  passage  that  Broatch  (I.e.,  p.  20)  writes,  "  Thus  in 
45  he  sneers  at  the  paganism  of  Homer/'  and  of  the  clos- 
ing lines  of  the  poem,  —  a  mere  scribal  formula,  — 

"  Celui  gart  Dex  et  tienge  et  voie 
Qui  bien  essauce  et  monteploie  "  — 

(R.  de  T.,  30107-30108  ed.,  «  Qui  bien  s'avance  et  monte- 
ploie," but  I  have  read  as  above  on  authority  of  MSS. 
B.N.,  782, 1553 ;  Arsenal,  3340,  3342)  he  remarks  that  the 
poet  "expresses  Christian  sentiments."  He  emphasizes 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  55 

In   the  Monkes   Tale  the  stanza  in  the 
account  of  Hercules 

"  Was  never  wight,  sith  that  the  world  bigan, 
That  slow  so  many  monstres  as  dide  he. 
Thurgh-out  this  wyde  world  his  name  ran, 
What  for  his  strengthe,  and   for   his  heigh 

bountee, 

And  every  reaume  wente  he  for  to  see. 
He  was  so  strong  that  no  man  mighte  him 

lette; 

At  bothe  the  worldes  endes,  seith  Trophee, 
In  stede  of  boundes,  he  a  pilar  sette."1 

finds  no  analogue  in  the  passage  in  Boethius 
in  Chaucer's  own  translation,2  which  was 
so  closely  followed  in  the  two  preceding 
stanzas/  but  has  its  source  in  Guido's  state- 

these  passages  as  the  only  evidence  to  support  his  arbitrary 
statement  that  Chaucer  could  have  found  "  his  source  in 
Benoit  as  well  as  in  Guido  "  for  his  attack  upon  paganism 
(T.  and  C.,  V.  1849-1855). 

1  Canterbury  Tales,  B,  3301-3307. 

2  Boethius  De  Consolatione  Philosophic,  Book  IV.  Metre 
VII.  29-67. 

3  C.  T.,  B,  3282-3300 


56  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

ment,  much  enlarged  upon  that  of  Benoit, 
which  merely  has 

"  Et  les  bonnes  ilec  ficha." l 

And  Chaucer  may  have  referred  to  this 
very  statement,  only  in  order  to  supplement 
it  with  the  information  he  found  in  what 
he  considered  a  better  authority,  in  the 
work  of  Guido. 

"  Hie  est  ille  hercules  de  cujus  incredibilibus 
actibus  per  multas  mundi  partes  sermo  dirigitur. 
Qui  sua  potentia  infinites  gigantes  suis  tempo 
ribus  inter  em  it .  .  .  ista  de  eo  sufficiant  tetigisse 
cum  et  rei  veritas  in  tantum  de  sua  victoria  acta 
per  mundum  miraculose  divulget,  quod  usque 
in  hodiernum  diem  usque  quam  victor  apparuit 
columne  herculis  testentur  ad  gades."2 

i  R.  de  T.,  795. 

*  Historia,  sig.  a  3  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf .  R.  de  T.,  791- 

794,797-798:—  „„        . 

"  Hercules 

Cil  qui  sostint  maint  pesant  fes, 
Et  mainte  grant  merveille  fist. 
Et  maint  felon  jaiant  ocit." 
"  Ses  granz  merveilles  et  si  fait 
Serront  mes  k  toz  jorz  retrait." 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  57 

"  Et  locus  ille  in  quo  predicte  columne  Her- 
culis  sunt  affixe  —  a  quo  non  sufficit  ultra  ire." 1 

But  Chaucer,  in  other  poems  where  no 
authority  is  named,  shows  that  he  is  well 
acquainted  with  Guido's  work.  In  the 
Book  of  the  Duchesse  he  dreams  that  on 
the  windows  of  his  room 

"  hoolly  al  the  storie  of  Troye 
Was  in  the  glasing  y- wrought  thus, 
Of  Ector  and  king  Priamus, 
Of  Achilles  and  Lamedon, 
Of  Medea  and  of  Jason, 
Of  Paris,  Eleyne,  and  Lavyne."2 

1  Historia,  sig.  a  3  recto,  col.  2;  cf.  Skeat,  Works  of 
Chaucer,  vol.  II.  p.  Iv.  Yet  Broatch  (Z.c.,  21)  states  that 
"the  passage  from  the  Monk's  Tale  ...  is  found  in 
Benoit."  Cf.  R.  de  T.,  796,  "  Ou  Alexandres  les  [bonnes] 
trova,"  with  Guido's  "  Ad  has  columnas  magnas  Macedo- 
nius  Alexander  .  .  .  subjugando  sibi  mundum  in  manu 
legitur  pervenisse,"  Historia,  sig.  a  3  recto,  col.  1.  Chau- 
cer's "  both  the  worldes  endes,"  as  well  as  the  statement 
in  Guido,  is  based  upon  the  geographical  misconception 
so  often  found  in  mediaeval  writers,  which  first  confused, 
and  finally  made  one,  the  Eastern  "  bornes  "  of  Bacchus 
or  Alexander,  and  the  Western  limits  set  by  Hercules  or 
Arthur.  2  B.  ofD.,  326-331. 


58  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

In  Guide's  work  especially  is  a  promi- 
nent place  given  to  the  loves  of  Medea 
and  Jason/  as  a  part  of  the  Trojan  story, 
and  from  this  source  the  English  poet  took 
the  names  in  this  passage,  as,  at  a  later 
period,  in  the  Legend  of  Good  Women,  he 
utilized  the  narrative. 

Again,  in  the  same  poem,  when  we  find :  — 

"  And  therto  al-so  hardy  be 
As  was  Ector,  so  have  I  joye, 
That  Achilles  slow  at  Troye  — 
Lnd  therfor  was  he  slayn  also 
a  temple,  for  bothe  two 

1  Cf.  A.  Joly,  I.e.,  vol.  I.  p.  474;  Bech,  Anglia,  vol. 
V.  p.  331.  While  Guido  always  writes  "Hector,"  the 
aphaeresized  form,  "  Ector,"  appears  in  Benoit  after  qu*  d'9 
etc.  (R.  de  T.,  296,  371;  283,  394,  420)  ;  but  this  was  a 
common  O.F.  form  which  Chaucer  could  have  found 
elsewhere.  Cf .  "  Ercules,"  B.  of  D.,  1058 ;  and  see  p. 
56.  "  Priamus  "  is  exceptional  in  Benoit  (Constans,  I.e., 
p.  67) ;  "  Lamedon  "  has  no  precedent  in  "  Laomedon " 
of  both  authors ;  but  for  the  manuscript  reading,  "  king  " 
before  name  which,  it  is  true,  may  merely  have  been 
caught  from  1.  328,  cf .  "  Li  reis  de  Troi[e]  Laomedon  " 
(R.  de  T.,  989);  "Rex  Laomedon,"  Historia,  sig.  a  4 
recto,  col.  1.  But  the  form  "  Laumedon,"  found  both  in 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  59 

Were  slayii,  he  and  Antylegyus, 
And  so  seyth  Dares  Prigius, 
For  love  of  [hir]  Polixena."J 

It  is  evidently  a  summing-up  of  the  story 
of  the  passion  of  Achilles  for  Polyxena, 
such  as  it  appeared,  in  an  extended  form, 
in  the  Historia  of  Guido.2  That  Dares  was 
not  the  immediate  source,  as  stated  by 
Chaucer,  is  conclusively  demonstrated  by 
his  forced  spelling  of  the  name  "  Anti- 
logus,"  which  Guido  had  taken  as  he 
found  it  in  Benoit,3  who  had  thus  distorted 

Benoit  (Constans,  I.e.,  pp.  34-35,  where  synseresis  must 
be  allowed  on  account  of  the  metre)  and  in  Guido,  would 
give  Chaucer's  spelling  of  the  name  as  "Laodamia," 
"Laudomia,"  which  became  "Ladomea."  Cf.  L.  of  G. 
W.,  924;  C.  T.,  B,  71;  F,  1445;  cf.  T.  and  C.,  IV.  124, 
"Lameadoun."  With  "Lavyne"  cf.  R.  de  la  Rose,  ed. 
Michel,  21818,  "  Helaine  ne  Lavine,"  but  14169, "  Helaine," 
«Medee,"Z.c.,  14170,  15349. 

1B.   of  D.,   1064-1071.      On    spelling   "Antilogus," 
Skeat,  Minor  Poems  of  Chaucer,  2d  ed.  p.  491. 

2  Historia,  sig.  k  2  verso,  col.  1,  — 14  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf . 
R.  de  T7.,  17457-18354,  19177-19289,  19395-19779,  20679- 
20848,  21176-21256,  21799-22256. 

3  R.  de  T.,  585,  20969,  22091 ;  Historia,  sig.  1  3  verso, 
col.  2,  — 14  recto,  col.  1. 


60  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

the  "  Antilochus  "  of  Dares.1     And  that  it 
was  to  Guido's,  and  not  to  Benoit' s,  work 

1  Dares,  41,  8 ;  11,  13.  Skeat's  statement  (Minor 
Poems,  p.  266),  "  Antilochus  is  a  mistake  for  Archilochus, 
owing  to  the  usual  mediaeval  confusion  of  proper  names," 
is  not  based  on  a  single  fact.  Archilochus,  who,  in  the 
Iliad  (XL  100,  XIV.  164),  is  the  son  of  Antenor,  in 
Dares  (23,  4)  is  a  Thracian  ally  of  the  Trojans;  in 
Benoit  (R.  de  T.,  6854,  7692)  Archilogus  is  the  son  of 
"  Theseus  de  Theresche,"  and  again  appears  in  the  same 
rdle  in  the  Historia  (sig.  f  6  recto,  col.  1;  g  3  recto, 
col.  1)  as  "Artilogus"  and  "Archileus."  But  Guido, 
misunderstanding  a  passage  in  Benoit  (R.  de  T.,  8360- 
8361,  where  "  Antilogus  "  appears  as  the  son  of  Theseus), 
makes  an  "  Artilogus  "  the  son  of  another  Theseus  (His- 
toria, g  5  recto,  col.  2 ;  cf .  wrong  translation  again  in  the 
Gest  Hystoriale,  ed.  Paton  and  Donaldson,  6448-6450), 
who  in  both  writers  appears  as  a  Greek  ally  (R.  de  T., 
8179-8184,  8873-8902,  9045-9062,  11174;  Historia,  sig. 
g  4  verso,  col.  1 ;  g  6  verso,  col.  1 ;  h  1  recto,  col.  1).  A 
certain  "  Artilegus  "  is  introduced  by  Guido  —  in  a  pas- 
sage in  which  two  episodes  are  made  from  one  in  Benoit 
—  as  a  doublet  of  u  Archelaus,"  who  is  slain  by  Hector 
(Historia,  sig.  h  5  recto,  col.  2 ;  cf.  R.  de  T.,  10817  ff.).  In 
Lydgate's  Troy-look  (sig.  X  2  verso,  col.  2,  but  X  3  recto, 
col.  2 ;  verso,  cols.  1-2,  the  correct  form  "  Anthylogus " 
appears),  in  the  Gest  Hystoriale  (10555-10556),  and  the 
La  destruction  de  Troye  of  Milet  (3987),  Archilogus  is  the 
son  of  Nestor ;  cf .  Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  VI.  p.  401. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  61 

that  Chaucer  was  directly  indebted,  is 
shown  by  the  name  of  the  author,  "  Dares 
Frigius,"  such  as  it  appeared  in  the  for- 
mer";1 while  "Daires,"  "Daire,"  "Dares"2 
is  a  less  specific  nomenclature,  found  in 
the  Old  French  poem. 
Then  in  the  lines, — 

"  nay,  certes,  than  were  I  wel 
Wers  than  was  Achitofel, 
Or  Anthaagr,  so  have  I  joye, 
The  traytour  that  betraysed  Troye, "  3 

is  at  once  the  mediaeval  tradition  and  spell- 
ing of  Antenor,  such  as  we  find  in  Guido,4' 
and  when  Chaucer  writes, — 

1  Historia,  sig.  e  1  verso,  col.  1 ;  e  3  recto,  col.  1 ;  f  5 
verso,  col.  1 ;  cf .  p.  70  n. 

2  R.  de  T.,  2048,  2051,  3107, 12292, 14048, 16210,21395, 
21173  ;  106,  5183,  9957,  23722 ;  Constans,  I.e.,  p.  68.     On 
Chaucer's  acquaintance  with  the  work  of  Dares,  when 
writing  the  L.  of  G.  W.,  Bech,  Anglia,  vol.  Y.  pp.  325- 
326.  8  B.  of  D.,  1117-1120. 

4  Historia,  sig.  m  1  recto,  col.  1  ff. ;  cf .  R.  de  T., 
24373-26325.  There  is  no  hint  anywhere  in  Chaucer's 
works  to  show  that  he  accepted  the  mediaeval  conception 


62  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  Alias  that  day 

The  sorwe  I  suffred,  and  the  wo  ! 
That  trewlwy  Cassandra,  that  so 
Bewayled  the  destruccioun 
Of  Troye  and  of  Ilioun, 
Had  never  swich  sorwe  as  I  tho,"  l 

he  follows  Guido  in  making  a  distinction 
between  Troy  and  Ilium,2  and,  as  he,  gives 
Cassandra,  who  is  only  incidentally  men- 

of  ^Eneas  as  a  traitor  in  conjunction  with  Antenor,  in 
contradiction  to  the  narrative  of  Virgil  (cf .  H.  of  F., 
162  fe. ;  L.  of  G.  W.,  930  ff.),  unless  it  be  in  the  line  in 
the  Troilus  (II.  1474)  in  which  the  two  are  named 
together  as  friends  of  the  enemy  of  Criseyde,  "Were 
it  for  Antenor  and  Eneas,"  a  juxtaposition  of  names  to 
be  found  in  Benoit  (299;  24373).  Nor  is  the  story  that 
Simon  entered  Troy  concealed  in  the  wooden  horse,  —  in 
Guido  one  of  brass,  "  equum  erum "  —  found  in  his 
mediaeval  authorities  (R.  de  T.,  25618-25639,  25760- 
25923;  Historia,  sig.  m  4  verso,  col.  2  —  m  5  recto,  col. 
1),  accepted  to  the  rejection  of  the  Virgilian  authority. 
(H.  of  F.,  151-155;  L.  of  G.  TF.,  930-933;  C.  T.,  B, 
4418-4419;  F,  209-211, 305-307)  ;  cf.  Works  of  Chaucer,  V. 
p.  377. 

1  B.  of  D.,  1243-1249. 

2  Historia,  sig.  c  2  verso,  col.  1-2,  in  the  section  treat- 
ing of  the  building  of  Troy  by  Priam,  we  find  :  — 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  63 


tioned  in  the  narrative  of  the  ^Eneid,1  a 
prominent  position  in  the  Trojan  story.2 

Ilion  formari  constituit  quod  magnum  ejus  palacium 
appelatur. 

Again  in  the  section  De  direptione  Troie  we  find  after 
entering  the  city  that 

Greci  ...  in  magnum  ilion  irruerunt 

(sig.  m  6  recto,  col.  1).  The  same  distinction  is  made 
in  the  H.  of  F.,  152,  155,  158;  and  in  the  L.  of  G.  W., 
936-937,— 

"  In  al  the  noble  tour  of  Ilioun 
That  of  the  citee  was  the  cheef  dungeoun," 

not  only  the  distinction,  but  the  language,  is  taken  from 
Benoit,  R.  de  T.,  3029-3030  (cf.  645-646,  10366,  24316- 
24317,  25275,  26029,  26119). 

"  A  une  part  font  Ylion 
De  Troie  le  mestre  danjon," 

Broatch,  I.e.  p.  22;  cf.  Fromman,  Germania,  vol.  II.  p. 
77;  C.  r.,  B,  288-289,  4546. 

1  jEn.,  II.  246,  403;  III.  187;  V.  636. 

2  Historia,  sig.   C   1  verso,  col.   1  =  R.  de   T.,  2941- 
2942  =  Dares,   6,   4  ;    Historia,   sig.  e  2   recto,  col.  2  = 
R.  de  T.,  4127-4144  =  Dares,  11,  2-5  ;    Historia,    sig.  o 
6  recto,  col.  2  =  R.  de  T.,  4861-4916  =  Dares,  13,  14-16  ; 
Historia,  sig.  e  3  recto,  col.  1  =  R.  de  T.,  5509-5520  = 
Dares,  15,  17-18  ;    Historia,   sig.  h  3  verso,  col.  1  =  R. 
de  T.,  10355-10390  ;  Historia,  sig.  m  4  verso,  col.  2  =  R. 
de  T.,  25482-25488  ;   Historia,  sig.  m  5  verso,  col.  2  = 


64  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

In  the  list  of  lovers  in  the  Parlement  of 
Foules,  — 

"  Tristram,  Isoude,  Paris,  and  Achilles, 
Eleyne,  Cleopatre,  and  Troilus,"  x 

the  heroes  of  the  two  romantic  episodes  of 
the  Historia  are  alluded  to ;  in  the  line 
of  the  Legend  of  Good  Women,  — 

"  And  Polixene,  that  boghten  love  so  dere,"  2 

R.  de  T.,  26009-26019  =  Dares,  49,  21-50,  17;  Historia, 
sig.  m  6  recto,  col.  1  =  R.  de  T.,  26107-26112.  In  these 
passages  her  seer's  powers  are  mentioned,  and  her  pro- 
phetic lamentations  are  set  forth  in  full. 

1  P.  of  F.,  290-291.  J.  Koch  (EngliscJien  Studien, 
vol.  I.  pp.  284-285)  thinks  that  these  lines,  in  which 
Troilus  is  taken  as  a  type  of  a  lover,  could  only  have 
been  written  after  Chaucer  had  become  acquainted  with 
the  FilostratOj  as  his  story  only  forms  a  minor  episode 
in  the  works  of  Benoit  and  Guido.  But  he  leaves  un- 
explained the  introduction  of  Achilles,  whose  name,  how- 
ever, as  that  of  Cleopatra,  Paris,  and  Tristram,  the 
English  poet  may  have  taken  from  a  passage  in  the 
Divina  Commedia  of  Dante  (Inf.,  V.  63-67),  of  which 
the  P.  of  F.  shows  the  earliest  influence.  Cf.  Inf.,  II. 
1-3,  83-84,  10-11,  19-20;  Purg.,  XXVIII.,  16-18,  7-9, 
with  P.  of  F.,  85-86,  109-112,  123-124,  141,  169-170, 
201-203.  2  L.  of  G.  W.,  B,  258. 


TO   GUIDO   DELLE   COLONNE  65 

there  is  again  a  reference  to  one  of  these ; 
in  the  Nonne  Preestes  Tale  one  of  the  "  en- 
samples,"  to  illustrate  the  value  of  dreams 
cited  by  Chauntecleer,  — 

"  Lo  heer  Andromacha,  Ectores  wyf , 
That  day  that  Ector  sholde  lese  his  lyf, 
She  dremed  on  the  same  night  biforn, 
How  that  the  lyf  of  Ector  sholde  be  lorn, 
If  thilke  day  he  wente  in-to  bataille  ; 
She  warned  him,  but  it  mighte  nat  availle ; 
He  wente  for  to  fighte  nathelees, 
But  he  was  slayn  anoon  of  Achilles, 
But  thilke  tale  is  al  to  long  to  telle, 
And  eek  it  is  ny  day,  I  may  nat  dwelle," l 

which  has   no   classical  authority,  can  be 

found  in  the  narrative  of  Guido.     So  far  as 

.  •  ^"^i ._       ~~      - '  -- 1 

the  evidence  of  the  names  in  the  first  pas- 
sage goes,  Chaucer  may  have  already  become 
acquainted  with  the  work  of  Benoit;  he 
makes  use  of  the  old  French  poem,  as  well 
as  of  the  Latin  romance,  elsewhere  in  the 

1  C.  T.,  B.,  4331-4340, 


66  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Legend  of  Good  Women?  and  in  either  of 
these  works  he  could  have  read  the  story 
of  the  fate  of  Polyxena,  who  was  slain  at 
the  tomb  of  Achilles  by  Pyrrhus,  because 

for  her — 

"sis  peres  fu  ocis."2 

Again,  in  the  summary  of  the  dream  of 
Andromache  and  its  fulfilment  there  is  no 
hint  in  its  details  or  language  upon  which 
it  can  be  stated  conclusively  whether  it  was 
to  the  narrative  of  Benoit  or  to  that  of 
Guido,  Chaucer  was  indebted.8 

1  Cf .  p.  52,  n.  2 ;  p.  62,  n.  2. 

2  R.  de  T.,  26297;  cf.  663-668,  26369-26432;  Historia, 
sig.  m  6  verso,  col.  1  —  n  1,  recto,  col.  1.     For  phrase, 
"  boghten  love  so  dere,"  cf .  T.  and  C.,  L,  810 :  "  Many  a 
man  hath  love  ful  dere  y-bought,"  which  has  no  equiva- 
lent in  the  parallel  passage  of  the  R.  de  la  7?.,  21878; 
but  T.  and  C.,  V.  1755-1756 ;  "  His  ire  ...  the  Grekes  ay 
boughte,"  V.  1800-1801 ;  "  The  wraththe  ...  of  Troilus 
the    Grekes  boughten   dere,"  finds    its    counterpart   in 
Benoit's  "  Chier  lo  comparent  Troien  "  (23688)  ;  «  Cil  de 
Ik  Tont  chier  comparee  "  (21204)  ;  "  Mes  trop  les  a,  chier 
compare  "  (20122).     Cf .  17944,  668,  13290. 

8  R.  de  T.,  15187  ff. ;  cf .  390-412 ;   Historia,  sig.  i  4 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  67 

In  taking  the  Filostrato  as  a  basis  for 
his  Troilus,  Chaucer,  knowing  both  of  the 
works  from  which  Boccaccio  drew  the  rudi- 
ments of  his  story/  did  not  hesitate  to  adopt' 

verso,  col.  2  ff.,  where  Dame  as  elsewhere  in  the  same 
work  is  spelled  Andrometa.  Tyrwhitt  had  stated  (I.e., 
p.  204,  note  to  1.  15147),  "  The  first  author  who  relates  it 
is  the  fictitious  Dares,  cxxiv,  and  Chaucer  very  probably 
took  it  from  him,  or  from  Guido  de  Columnis,  or  per- 
haps from  Benoit  de  Sainte  More."  Cf.  Broatch  (I.e., 
p.  22),  "Tyrwhitt  affirmed  that  the  dream  of  An- 
dromache .  .  .  came  from  Guido.  It  might  as  well 
have  come  from  Benoit." 

1  Le  Clerc  was  of  the  opinion  that  "  le  Filostrato  n'est 
qu'un  developpement  de  1'episode  de  Troilus  et  Briseida 
ou  Criseida  dans  le  poeme  fra^aise  de  la  Guerre  de 
Troie  par  Benoit  de  Sainte-More  "  (Hist.  litt.  de  la  France, 
vol.  XXIV.  pp.  553-554).  Hortis  (Studi  sulle  opere  latine 
del  Boccaccio,  1879,  p.  118),  Sandras  (I.e.,  p.  42),  Moland 
and  d'Hericault  (I.e.,  p.  xciii),  and  Barth  (Guido  de 
Columna,  Leipzig,  1877,  p.  34)  do  not  try  to  decide 
whether  it  was  to  Benoit  or  Guido  that  Boccaccio  was 
indebted  for  the  story  of  the  Troilus.  G.  Koerting 
(Boccaccios  Leben  und  Werke,  1880,  p.  590)  and  V. 
Cresini  (Contribute  agli  studi  sul  Boccaccio,  1887,  p.  195) 
widen  the  question  by  the  suggestion  that  it  may 
have  been  taken  from  an  Italian  translation  of  either 
Benoit  or  Guido,  instead  of  from  the  original  of  either 


1 


68  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

/     hints  from  those  authors  which  had  been 
^^C   neglected  by  Boccaccio.     Not  only  did  he 
dovetail  into  his  own  narrative  details  of 
the    Latin    and    French   versions    of    the 
Troilus   episode   which   had   been    omitted 
or  changed  by  the  Italian  writer,  but  also 
\  followed  "myn  auctor"  in  seeking  material 
\  in  other   episodes,  and  weaving  romances 
\  j  about  names  found  in   their  common  au- 
thorities.     And   in    such    additions    from 
Benoit  and  Guido  the  predominance  of  the 
former  as  an  authority  is  evident  both  in 

(cf .  C.  H.  A.  Wager,  The  Seege  of  Troye,  p.  xxii.) .  Dunger 
(I.e.,  p.  36),  Hertzberg  (I.e.,  p.  200),  Bartoli  (Iprecursori  del 
Boccaccio,  1876,  pp.  64-66 ;  cf.  70-80), M.  Landau  (Giovanni 
Boccaccio;  seine  Leben  und  seine  Werke,  1877,  pp.  90-91), 
and  Gorra  (Testi  inediti  di  storia  troiana,  etc.,  1889,  p. 
339  ff.)  believed  that  Guide's  original  text  was  the  direct 
source ;  while  Joly  (I.e.,  vol.  I.  p.  504),  Gaspary  (Gesch.  der 
italienischen  Lit.,  vol.  II.  p.  638),  Morf  (Rom.,  vol.  XXI. 
p.  106),  and  Savj-Lopez  (Rom,  vol.  XXVII.  pp.  445-449) 
attributed  the  greater  influence  to  Benoit,  although  ac- 
knowledging the  supplementary  use  of  Guido ;  and  Savez- 
Lopez  was  the  first  (I.e.,  pp.  451-453)  to  note  Boccaccio's 
indebtedness  to  the  love  episode  of  Achilles  in  Benoit. 


TO   GUIDO   DELLE  COLONNE  69 

language  and  sentiment,  while  lie  accepts 
the  statements  of  the  latter  for  specific 
details,  the  correctness  of  which  he  thinks 
can  be  vouched  for.  While  Benoit  always 
writes  for  Dictys,  "Dithis"1  or  "Ditis,"2 
Guido  in  translating  the  passage  in  the 
French  poem  which  tells  of  the  discovery 
by  Cornelius,  the  "  neveu  "  of  "  Saluistes," 3 

of  — 

"  L'estoire  que  D^ire  ot  escrite 

Et  en  langue  gregoise  dite,"  4 

regarded  the  participle  "  dite  "  as  a  proper 
name,  and,  here  and  elsewhere,  always 

1  R.  de  T7.,  637,  24301,  26202,  30095. 

2  R.  de  T.,  24299,  24322,  26040 ;  Constans,  Z.c.,  p.  64. 
8  R.  de  T7.,  77-79. 

"  Cist  Saluistes,  90  truis  lisant 
Ot  un  neveu  forment  sachant 
Cornelius  fu  apelez," 

is  Benoit's  interpretation  of  the  words  in  the  formula  of 
address,  "  Cornelius  Nepos  Sallustio,"  in  Dares.  Cf .  Joly, 
I.e.,  vol.  I.  p.  477. 

4  R.  de  T.,  87-88,  ed.  "  En  greque  langue  fete  et  dite," 
which  I  have  rejected  in  favor  of  the  reading  in  Vienna 
2571,  ap.  G.  K.  Fromman,  Germania,  vol.  II.  p.  62. 


70  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

referred  to  this  author,  with  whose  work 
he  was  unacquainted,  as  Dites,1  so,  Chaucer, 
whose  ignorance  on  this  point  was  one  with 
Guido,  names  "  Dyte  "  as  a  writer  on  the 
Trojan  war,  and  when  he  gives  the  advice, 

"  But  the  Troiane  gestes,  as  they  f elle, 

In  Omer,  or  in  Dares,  or  in  Dyte, 

Who-so  that  can,  may  rede  hem  as  they  wryte,"2 

he  is  speaking  in  all  seriousness  to  those 
who  were  better  situated  than  he.  That 
he  came  to  doubt  the  authority  that  he 
Accepted  when  writing  the  Troilus  is 
shown  in  the  later  poem,  Tlie  Hous  of 

1  Historia,  sig.  a  1  recto,  col.  2. 

"  Eaque  per  ditem  grecum  et  frigius  Daretem  ...  in 
presentem  libellum  per  me  judicem  Guidonem  de  columnis 
messana  transsumpta  legentur,  prout  in  duobus  libris 
eorum  inscripturn,  quasi  una  vocis  consonantis  inventum 
est  athenis.  Quamquam  autem  hos  libellos  .  .  .  Cornelius 
nomine  Salustii  magni  nepos  in  latinam  transferre 
curverit." 

This  mistake  of  Guido  was  first  noted  by  Hertzberg, 
I.e.,  189-190.  Cf.  sig.  o.  7  recto,  col.  1,  "  ditem  grecum." 
On  passage  in  epilogue,  Historia,  sig.  O  6  recto,  col.  2,  in 
which  the  form  "  ditis  "  occurs  —  which  may  be  only  a 
gloss,  cf.  H.  Morf  (Rom,  vol.  XXI.  pp.  20-21). 

2  T.  and  C.,  I.  145-147. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  71 

Fame,  where,  again  in  a  list  of  writers  on 

Troy,  he  names 

"  the  great  Omere, 

And  with  him  Dares  and  Tytus."1 

This  is  no  mere  spelling  of  a  name,  but  the 
statement  of  a  correction  to  which  the  poet 
had  given  thought.  In  his  readings  he  had 
not  come  across  the  work  of  "Ditis  — 
Dithis — Dites,"  and  to  attribute  such  a  work 
to  a  well-known  historian, "  Tytus  Livius,"2 
one  of  whose  names  could  easily  have  been 
corrupted,  seemed  the  sensible  way. 

Chaucer  was  so  well  acquainted  with  the 
story  of  Achilles  and  Polyxena3  that  he 

*H.ofR,  1466-1467. 

2  B.  of  the  D.,  1084  =  72.  de  la  £.,  9365 ;  L.  of  G.  W., 
A,  280.  1873,  (Titus)  1683 ;  C.  T.y  C,  1.  In  the  B.  of  the 
D.  the  allusion  to  Lucretia  is  only  at  second  hand,  in  the 
L.  of  G.  W.  the  Latin  history  was  used  as  a  source,  while 
again  in  the  Frankeleyns  Tale,  where  no  authority  is 
named,  the  name  occurs  in  the  list  of  virtuous  women, 
translation  from  the  monastic  tract  Contra  Jovinianum. 
Cf .  C.  T.,  F,  1405-1409 ;  Migne,  Patrologia,  vol.  XXIII. 
col.  275.  3  Cf .  p.  59. 


72  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

recognized  the  use  made  of  it  by  Boccaccio 
in  telling  of  the  beginning  of  the  love 
adventures  of  Troilus,  and  enlarged  his  own 
narrative  by  hints  drawn  from  both  of  the 
sources  of  the  Italian  poet. 
Boccaccio's  lines,  — 

"il  quale  {i.e.  Troilus]  amore  trafisse 
Piu  ch'alcun  altro,"1 

could  hardly  have  been  the  original  of 
Chaucer's  longer  and  more  specific  state- 
ment, — 

"  the  god  of  love  gan  loken  rowe 
Right  for  despyt,  and  shoop  for  to  ben  wroken; 
He  kidde  anoon  his  bowe  nas  not  broken; 
For  sodeynly  he  hit  him  at  the  fulle;  "  2 

while  the  figure  employed  seems  to  suggest 
the  use  of  a  passage  in  Guido's  description 
of  the  first  meeting  of  Achilles  and  Polyx- 

KV  •• 

ena :  — 

"Et  dum  desirabili  animo  in  earn  Achilles 
suum  infixisset  intuitum  sagitta  cupidimis  for- 

i  m,  I.  25,  7-8.  2  Tm  and  C.,  I.  206-209. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  7B 

tern  Achillem  subito  vulneravit  et  ad  interiora 
pertransiens  cordis  ejus."1 

Again,  Chaucer's  lines, 

"  And  sodeynly  he  wex  ther-with  astoned, 
And  gan  hire  bet  biholde  in  thrifty  wyse: 
*O  mercy,  god!'  thoughte  he,  'wher  hastow 

woned, 
Thou  art  so  fair  and  goodly  to  devyse  ? ' "  2 

"  And  after  that  hir  loking  gan  she  lighte, 
That  never  thoughte  him  seen  so  good  a  sighte. 
And  of  hir  look  in  him  ther  gan  to  quiken 
So  greet  desir,  and  swich  affeccioun, 
That  in  his  hertes  botme  gan  to  stiken 
Of  hir  his  fixe  and  depe  impressioun : 
And  though  he  erst  hadde  poured  up  and  doun, 
He  was  tho  glad  his  homes  in  to  shrinke; 
Unnethes  wiste  he  how  to  loke  or  winke,"3 

which  have  no  parallel  in  the  Filostrato,  are      _! 
a  clever  piecing   together  of   unconnected        A 

1  Historia,  sig.  k  2  verso,  col.  2.     Cf.  E.  Meybrinck, 
Die  Auffassung  der  Antike  bei  Jacques   Milet,   Guido   de 
Columna  und  Benoit  de  Saint-Maur,  Marburg,  1886,  p.  40. 

2  T.  and  C.,  I.  274-278. 
8  T.  and  C.,  I.  293-301. 


74  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

expressions  in  the  Latin   Romance  in  the 
same  episode  :  — 

"Achilles  igitur  dum  Polixenam  inspexit  et 
ejus  pulcliritudinem  contemplatus  vere  suo  con- 
cepit  in  ammo  nunquam  se  vidisse  puellam  nee 
aliquam  inulierem  tante  pulchritudinis  forma 
vigere.  .  .  .  Qui  dum  in  earn  frequentius  in- 
tuendo  sibi  ipsi  placere  putaret  et  lenire  grave 
desiderium  cordis  sui  majoris  scissure  cordis 
vulneris  seipsum  sibi  reddebat  actorem.  .  .  . 
Quid  ultra  Amore  Polixene  nimium,  illaqueatus, 
Achilles  nescit  ipse  quid  faciat.  .  .  .  Propter 
quod  dilatat  amplius  plagas  suas  et  sui  amoris 
vulnera  magis  sui  cordis  attrahit  in  profun- 
dum."1 

1  Historia,  sig.  k  2  verso,  col.  2,  —  k  3  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf . 
Gower,  Conf.  Amant.  V.  7591  ff.    The  lines, 
[Calchas] 

"  Knew  wel  that  Troye  sholde  destroyed  be, 
By  answere  of  his  god,  that  highte  thus, 
Daun  Phebus  or  Apollo  Delphicus, 

(T.  and  C.,  I.  68-70) 

Thus  shal  I  seyii,  and  that  his  coward  herte 
Made  him  amis  the  goddes  text  to  glose, 
When  he  for  ferde  out  of  his  Delphos  sterte," 

(T.  and  C.,  IV.  1409-1411) 
in  which  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  journey  of  Calchas  to 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  75 

Boccaccio  did  not  give  a  description  of 
Troilus,  and  Chaucer,  in  combining  details 
from  Benoit  and  Guido,  takes  his  more 
definite  information  from  the  latter.  Thus, 

when  Pandarus  refers  to     . 

"  Troilus 
The  wyse  worthy  Ector  the  secounde," l 

the  Delphic  oracle  in  the  interests  of  the  Trojans,  the 
warning  of  the  god,  which  he  obeyed,  in  accompanying 
Achilles  to  Athens,  —  not  a  suggestion  of  which  appears 
in  the  Filostrato,  —  do  not  furnish  any  hint  as  to  whether 
it  was  to  the  French  or  the  Latin  work  (cf .  R.  de  T7.,  5809- 
5918;  Historic  sig.  e  6  recto,  col.  1)  Chaucer  had  resort  to 
at  this  point  in  the  story.  However,  it  may  be  noted  that 
Phebus  with  the  French  epithet  does  not  appear  in  the 
R.  de  T.  (cf.  Danz  Apollin,  13732)  nor  does  the  Latin 
"Delphicus"  appear  in  Guido  ("Apollo,"  Historia,  sig.  e 
5  verso,  col.  2).  Lydgate  accepts  the  authority  of  Chau- 
cer, and  in  his  translation  of  this  passage  we  find  "  Apollo 
Delphicus"  (Troy-look,  sig.  2  recto,  col.  2).  Guido  con- 
fused Delos  and  "Delphos  insulam"  (Historia,  sig.  e 
4  recto,  col.  2;  e  5  verso,  col.  2).  Benoit  has  Defeis  (R. 
de  T.,  205,  5786).  Chaucer  may  have  written  Delphos  on 
the  authority  of  Dares  (19, 13  and  19).  Cf.  C.  T.,  F,  1077, 
"  Thy  temple  in  Delphos  wol  I  barefoot  seke."  The 
account  of  Calchas  in  the  Filostrato  (I.  8-9)  corresponds 
to  the  more  general  statement  of  Guido  in  another  passage 
(Historia,  sig.  i  1  recto,  col.  2 ;  cf.  R.  de  T.,  12952  ft.). 
1  T.  and  C.,  H.  157-158. 


76  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

or  when  the  poet  speaking  in  his  own 
person  says,  — 

"  And  certainly  in  storie  it  is  y-f ounde, 
That  Troilus  was  never  un-to  no  wight, 
As  in  his  tyme,  in  no  degree  secounde 
In  durring  don  that  longeth  to  a  knight. 
Al  mighte  a  geaunt  passen  him  of  might, 
His  herte  ay  with  the  firste  and  with  the  beste 
Stod  paregal,  to  durre  don  that  him  leste," l 

we  have  twovseparate  passages  based  upon 
the  statement  in  the  Historia:  — 

"  In  viribus  vero  et  strenuitate  bellandi  vel 
f  uit  alms  Hector  vel  secundus  ab  ipso.  In  toto 
etiam  regno  Troie  juvenis  nullus  fuit  tantis 
viribus  nee  tanta  audacia  gloriosus."2 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  834-840.  Cf.  II.  643,  739-740;  III. 
1774-1775  ;  V.  1564-1565,  1803-1804. 

2  Historia,  sig.  e  2  verso,  col.   1 ;   cf .  sig.  k  6   recto, 
col.  2, 

"alius  hector  qui  non  minori  predictus  est  virtute  inclitus 
ille  scilicet  troilus  qui  non  minus  quam  si  hector  viveret, 
grecos  afficit " 

=  R.  de  T.  (19890-19905;  cf.  3973-3976,  5419-5421) 
which  again  has  its  source  in  Dares  (36,  20-22),  "  Dio- 


TO  GUIDO   DELLE   COLONNE  77 

In  describing  the  sorrowful  plight  in 
which  Pandarus  found  Criseyde,  Chaucer 
availed  himself  of  all  that  the  Filostrato 
offered,  — 

"  El  vide  lei  in  sul  letto  avviluppata 
Ne'  singhiozzi,  nel  pianto  et  ne'  sospiri ; 
E'l  petto  tutto  et  la  faccia  bagnata 
Di  lacrime  le  vide,  ed  in  disiri 
Di  pianger  gli  occhi  suoi,  e  scapigliata, 
Dar  vero  segno  degli  aspri  martiri," * 

medes  et  Ulixes  dicere  coeperunt  Troilum  non  minus 
quam  Hectorem  virum  fortissimum  esse."  Cf.  Skeat, 
Z.c.,  p.  Ivi. ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  16.  Skeat,  I.e.,  pp.  Ivi.-lvii., 
compares  T.  and  C.,  I.  1072-1085,  with  Guide's  descrip- 
tion of  Troilus,  while  Broatch  (Z.c.,  p.  16),  noting  that 
these  lines  refer  especially  to  the  change  that  took  place 
in  Troilus  in  consequence  of  his  love,  says  that  any 
details  in  this  passage  "might  equally  well  have  been 
taken  from  Benoit,  5372  ff."  But  in  fact  Chaucer  merely 
anticipates  the  situation  that  he  translates  from  the  Filo- 
strato in  a  later  passage.  Cf.  T.  and  C.,  III.  1716-1729 ; 
Fil.,  III.  72;  T.  and  C.9  HI.  1772-1778,  1786-1792;  Fil., 
III.  90,  92. 

1  Fil.,  TV.  9.6.  1-6.    Cf .  IV.  100,  7-8  :  — 

"  E  intorno  agli  occhi  un  purpurino  giro 
Dava  vero  segnal  del  suo  martiro," 


78  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

and  by  making  his  own  a  further  detail  in 
Guide's  description  of  the  heroine's  actions, 
"t     not  put  to  use  by  Boccaccio, 

A,       "  et  aureos  crines  suos  a  lege  ligaminis  absolutes 
divellit,"1 

introduced  additional  matter  in  his  ver- 
sion, — 

"  And  fond  that  she  hir-selven  gan  to  trete 
Ful  pitously ;  for  with  hir  salte  teres 
Hir  brest,  hir  face  y-bathed  was  f ul  wete ; 

with  T.  and  C.,  IV.  869-870,  — 

"  About  her  eyen  two  a  purple  ring 
Bi-trent  in  sothf  ast  tokninge  of  hir  peyne." 

The  ultimate  source  is  Dante  (Vita  Nuova,  ch.  xl.), 
"Dintorno  loro  (i.e.  gli  occhi)  si  facea  un  colore  purpu- 
reo,  lo  quale  suole  apparir  per  alcuno  martirio  ch'  altri 

riceva," 

"  Ch'  Amore 

Li  cerchia  di  corona  di  martiri." 

On  indebtedness  of  the  Filostrato  to  the  Vita  Nuova,  cf. 
Savj-Lopez  in  Rom,  XXVII.  pp.  443-444. 

1  Historia,  sig.  i  2  recto,  col.  2.  "  Aureos  crines  suos 
.  . .  divellit "  =  Fit.,  IV.  87,  7  =  T.  and  C.,  IV.  736-737 ; 
"  ounded  hair,"  cf .  R.  de  la  R.,  22131-22132 ;  H.  of  F., 
1386. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  79 

The  mighty  tresses  of  hir  sonnish  heres, 
Unbroyden,  hangen  al  aboute  hir  eres ; 
Which  yaf  him  verray  signal  of  mar  tyre 
Of  deeth,  which  that  hir  herte  gan  desyre," 1 

and  it  was  the  same  phrase  in  Guide's 
work  that  may  have  suggested  to  Chaucer, 
in  his  description  of  Criseyde,  the  lines,  — 

"  And  ofte  tyme  this  was  hir  manere, 
To  gon  y-tressed  with  hir  heres  clere 
Doun  by  hir  coler  at  hir  bak  bihinde, 
Which  with  a  threde  of  gold  she  wolde  binde."2 

1  T.  and  C.,  IV.  813-819;  1.  819  "her  herte,"  van  "for 
wo  she." 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  809-812.     A  point  suggested  by  Skeat 
(I.e.,  p.  Ivii.),  although  "  this  seems  fantastic  "  to  Broatch 
(I.e.,  pp.  17-18).    The  hint  for  this  detail  in  the  description 
of  Criseyde  may  be  due  to  Guido,  but  the  lines  are  only 
a  modification  of  a  passage  in  the  P.  of  P.,  267-268  :  — 

"  Her  gilte  heres  with  a  golden  threde 
Ybounded  were,  untressed  as  she  lay," 

a  free  translation  of  the  Italian  original  (Tesaide,  VII. 
65,1-2),- 

"  Ella  avea  d'  oro  i  crini,  et  relegati 
Intorno  al  capo  senza  trecci  alcuna." 


80  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

But  on  the  other  hand,  when  he  writes,  — 

"  And  eek  her  fingres  longe  and  smale 
She  wrong  ful  ofte." 

"  Hir  hewe,  whylom  bright,  that  tho  was  pale," 1 

there   is   only   a   reminiscence   of   Guido's 
stronger  language:  — 

"  Unguibus  etiam  suis  sua  tenerrima  ora  dila- 
cerabat  .  .  .  et  dum  rigidis  unguibus  suas  max- 
illas  exarat  rubeo  cruore,  pertinctas,  lacerata 
lilia  lacerata  rosis  immisceri  shnilitudinarie 
videbantur."2 

A  phrase  of  Guido's  that  suggested  to 
Chaucer  in  his  version  an  addition  to  Boc- 
caccio's description  of  the  heroine  has 
already  been  noticed,  and  further,  a  com- 

1  T.  and  C.,  IV.  737-738,  740.    Cf .  T.  and  C.,  V.  708, 

"  Full  pale  y-waxen  was  hir  brighte  face  " 

=  Fil.,  VI.  1,  6-7, 

"  le  f resche  guance  et  delicate 
Pallide  e  magre  Per  an  divenute." 

2  Historia,  sig.  i  2,  recto,  col.  2 ;  cf .  Z.c.,  cols.  1-2,  "  si 
promentis  alicus  [vestes]  manibus  strigerentur  et 

rum  multitudinem  eff  iinderenlj," 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOKNTE  81 

parison  of  the  analogous  passages  of  the 
three  authors  shows  that  the  English  poet 
deferred  to  the  authority  of  Guido  when 
in  conflict  with  that  of  Boccaccio — in  this 
instance  for  artistic  reasons  if  for  no  other 
cause.  Thus,  while  Boccaccio  tells  us  of 
his  Griseida,  that  — 

"  E1F  era  grande,  ed  alia  sua  grandezza 
Kispondean  bene  i  membri  tutti  quanti," l 

Chaucer  writes,  — 

"  Criseyde  mene  was  of  hir  stature," 
in  this  as  in  his  other  lines,  — 

"  Thereto  of  shap,  of  face,  and  eek  of  chere 
There  mighte  been  no  fairer  creature,"  2 

"And,  save  her  browes  joyneden  y-fere, 
Ther  nas  no  lak,  in  ought  I  can  espyen,"  3 

1  Fil.j  I.  27,  1-2,  used  by  Chaucer  in  his  description  of 
Troilus  (T.  and  C.,  V.  827-828),  which  is  similar  to  that 
given  in  R.  de  T.,  5405-5406,  for  which  there  is  no  equiv- 
alent in  the  Historia  (sig.  e  2  verso,  col.  1).     Cf.  Skeat., 
Z.c.,  pp.  Ivi.,  lix. ;  Broatch,  Z.c.,  pp.  16,  18,  26. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  806-808,          *  T.  and  C.,  V.  813-814. 


82  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

following  the  passage  in  Guido  :  — 

"  Breseida  autem  filia  Calcas  multa  f uit  spe- 
ciositate  decora  nee  longa  nee  brevis  nee  nimium 
macilenta,  lacteo  profusa  candore,  genis  roseis, 
flavis  crinibus.  Sed  superciliis  junctis,  quorum 
junctura  dum  multa  piloxitate  tumesceret  modi- 
cam  inconvenientam  presentabat."  * 

1  Historia,  sig.  e  2  recto,  col.  1;   cf.  Dares,  17,  7-9, 
"Briseidam  formosam  non  alta  statura   .  .  .  superciliis 
junctis,"  and  R.  de  T.,  5258,  5261-5262  :  — 
"  N'ert  trop  petite  ne  trop  granz." 
"  Mes  le  sorcil  qui  li  giseient 
Auquetes  li  mesaveneient." 

A  single  word  in  the  first-  line  suggests  Dares  as  the 
source,  but  his  statement  as  to  Criseyde's  height  is  not 
as  definite  as  that  of  Benbit  and  Guido ;  and  only  in  the 
Historia  is  the  defect  of  the  eyebrows  emphasized.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  Chaucer's  story, 
as  in  Boccaccio's,  the  heroine  appears  as  a  widow  (Fil., 
I.  11,  3  =  T.  and  C.,  I.  97;  cf.  Fil.,  I.  19,  2,  with  T.  and 
C.,  I.  170;  Fil.,  II.  69,  2;  T.  and  C.,  II.  750  ff.;  Fil., 
VI.  29,  1-3;  T.  and  C.,  V.  875-876),  and  although  Chau- 
cer states  (T.  and  C.,  I.  132-133)  :  — 

"  But  whether  that  she  children  hadde  or  noon, 

I  rede  it  nought,  therefore  I  lete  it  goon," 
Boccaccio  specifically  states  that  she  did  not  have  any 
(Fil.,  I.    15,  4-7;    II.   69,    3;    cf.   W.  S.    McCormick, 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  83 

For  the  expansion  of  the  story  of  the 
wooing  of  Diomedes,  Chaucer  drew  largely 
from  the  French  poem,  but  in  the  answer 
of  Criseyde,  for  the  lines, — 

"  I  sey  not  therefore  that  I  wol  yow  love, 
Ne  I  sey  not  nay,  but  in  conclusioun 
I  mene  wel,  by  god  that  sit  above,"  1 

no  specific  analogous  passage  is  found  there, 
while  in  the  Latin  romance  we  find  the 
passages  of  the  same  import,  in  which  the 

Globe  Chaucer,  p.  440) ;  while  Benoit  (R.  de  T.,  12977) 
refers  to  her  as  "la  pucele."  There  is  no  hint  of  her 
condition  in  either  Guido  or  Dares;  cf.  Hertzberg,  I.e., 
pp.  197-198. 

With  T.  and  C.9  V.  815-817:  — 

"  But  for  to  speken  of  hir  eyen  clere, 
Lo  trewely,  they  writen  that  hir  syen 
That  Paradys  stood  formed  in  hir  yen," 
cf.   Dares,   17,   9,   "oculis   venustis";    R.   de    T.,   5263, 
"  Biax  ielz  avoit  de  grant  maniere  "  (cf.  p.  124,  n.  1)  ;  His- 
toria,  sig.  e  2  recto,  col.  2,  "  oculis  venusta  "  (cf .  Hertz- 
berg,  I.e.,  p.  180,  n.)  ;  Fil.,  I.  28,  8,  "  Gli  occhi  lucenti  e 
Pangelico  viso";  T.  and  C.,  V.  820-825  =  Fil.,  I.  11,  7; 
R.  de  T.,  5264-5270. 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1002-1004. 


84  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

thought  and  language  is  similar  to  what 
we  find  in  the  Troilus :  — 

"Amoris  tui  oblationes  ad  presens  nee  re- 
pudio  nee  admitto."  * 

44  Unde  sua  calliditate  se  nolle  non  negat  et 
velle  in  expectationis  fiduciam  conatur  ponere 
Diomedem."2 

But  it  was  in  Benoit's  work  alone  that 
Chaucer  found  mention  of  the  tokens  of 
love  that  Criseyde  presented  to  Diomedes, 
circumstances  omitted  by  Guido,  and  so 

1  Historic  sig.  i  2  verso,  col.  1. 

2  Historia,  sig.  i  4  verso,  col.  2.     Skeat  (I.e.,  p.  Ix.) 
citing  from  MS.,  Mm.  5. 14,  in  Cambridge  University  Li- 
brary, quotes  the  much  closer  analogue,  "  Unde  Diomedi 
suum  non  negat,  etiam  nee  promittit,"  but  here  as  else- 
where I  prefer  the  text,  otherwise  fuller  and  more  correct, 
given  in  the  incunabula.     The  lines  in  Benoit  (15588- 
15589,13641),— 

"  N'est  biau  ne  bien,  reson  ne  dreiz 
Que  d'amer  vos  donge  parole," 

"  Gie  ne  vos  refuse  autrement," 

do  not  seem  to  support  Broatch's  statement  (I.e.,  p.  18), 
"  There  is  nothing  here  which  might  not  have  come  from 
Benoit," 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  85 

changed  in  detail  by  Boccaccio,  who  had 
adopted  this  hint  from  this  episode  upon 
which  to  base  an  incident  in  his  story,  as  to 
be  hardly  recognizable/  and  the  soliloquy  of 
the  heroine  before  she  finally  gives  herself 
up  to  her  Grecian  lover/  omitted  by  Boc- 
caccio, and  very  shortly  summarized  by 
Guido.  And  yet  here  in  one  line, — 
"Retorning  in  hir  soule  ay  up  and  doun  A 


Chaucer  adopts  a  phrase  of  Guido' s,; 
"in  sua  mente  revolvit,"4 

i  Cf.  p.  *R  de  T.,  20194-20330. 

8  T.  and  C.,  V.  1023. 

4  Historia,  sig.  1  recto,  col.  1,  but  cf.  T.  and  C.,  II. 
601-602 :  — 

"  And  every  word  gan  up  and  doun  to  winde," 
which  translates  the  Italian,  (Fil.  II.  68,  3-4)  :  — 
"  Seco  nel  cuor  ciascuna  paroletta 

Bivolendo  di  Pandaro," 

which  is  rendered  again  in  T.  and  C.,  II.  659 :  — 
"  And  gan  to  caste  and  rollen  up  and  doun," 
while  T.  and  C.,  III.  1541-1542:  — 

"  And  in  his  thought  gan  up  and  doun  to  winde 
Hir  wordes  alle," 


86  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

and,  for  brevity's  sake,  gives  the  gist  of 
Guido's  account  of  the  subsequent  action 
of  the  heroine,  which  is  only  implied  in 
the  passage  of  the  Roman  de  Troie.  In 
Guido's  statement, — 

"Totum  suum  animum  in  Diomedem  declinat 
et  convertit  amorem.  Sed  quam  primum  con- 
valescentia  adeptus  absolute  facere  velle  suum, 
cum  in  ejus  amore  tota  deferveat  et  flagranti 
desiderio  penitus  incalescat," 1 

Chaucer  found  authority  for  his  lines:  — 

"  And  for  to  hele  him  of  his  sorwes  smerte 
Men  seyn,  I  not,  that  she  yaf  him  her  herte."2 

renders  FU.,  III.  54,  1-2 :  — 

"  E  giva  ciascun  atto  rivolgendo 
Nel  suo  pensuiero." 

1  Historia,  sig.  1  1  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf .  R.  de  T.9  20218- 
20220 :  — 

"  Desor  puet  Ten  aperceveir 
Que  vers  lui  a  tot  atorne 
S'amor,  son  cuer  et  son  pense." 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1049-1050.    Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  25,  cites  a 
line  of  the  heroine's  speech  (R.  de  T.,  20271),  "  Trop  ai 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  87 

A  careful  investigation  of  Guido's  work, 
in  conjunction  with  the  other  two  sources, 
puts  beyond  doubt  the  truthfulness  of  the 
poet's  statement  when  he  writes, — 

"  But  trewely,  how  longe  it  was  betwene, 
That  she  f or-sook  him  for  this  Diomede 
Ther  is  non  auctor  telleth  it,  I  wene, 
Take  every  man  now  to  his  bokes  hede  ; 
He  shall  no  terme  finden  out  of  drede."1 

But  when  he  finds  the  exact  number  of 
days  stated  upon  another  matter,  he  is  not 
so  careful  to  follow  his  authorities.  For 
when  he  writes, — 

"  For  which,  with-outen  any  wordes  mo,        SN 
To  Troye  I  wol,  as  for  conclusioun. 
But  god  it  wot,  er  fully  monthes  two, 
She  was  ful  fer  fro  that  entencioun, 
For  both  Troilus  and  Troye  town, 

en  lui  ja  mon  cuer  mie,"  which  has  at  least  one  word  which 
is  in  the  English  lines. 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1086-1090. 


88  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Shall  knotteles  through-out  hir  herte  slyde  ; * 
For  she  wol  take  a  purpos  for  t'abyde,"2 

he  flatly  contradicts  Guide's  more  radical 
statement :  — 

"  Non  dum  ilia  dies  [i.e.  the  day  of  her  arrival 
in  the  Greek  camp]  ad  horam  declinaverat  ves- 
pertinam  cuin  Briseida  suas  recentes  mutaverat 
voluntates  et  vetera  proposita  sui  cordis,  et  jam 
magis  sibi  succedit  ad  votum  esse  cum  Grecis 
quam  fuisse  hactenus  cum  Trojanis.  Jam 
nobilis  Troili  amor  cepit  in  sua  mente  tepescere 
et  tarn  brevi  hora  repente  sic  subito  facta 
volubilis  ceperat  in  omnibus  variari."3 

iCf.  FiL,  VI.  8,  6-7:  — 

"  E'n  breve  spazio  ne  caccio  di  f uore 
Troilo  e  Troia,  ed  ogni  altro  pensiero 
Che'n  lei  fosse  di  lui  o  falso  o  vero." 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  764-770.  Cf.  V.  912,  1006-1008,  for 
which  the  Filostrato  does  not  furnish  an  analogue. 

8  Historia,  sig.  i  3  recto,  col.  2.  Cf.  R.  de  T.,  13823- 
13827:  — 

"  Anceis  que  venist  le  quart  seir 
N'ot  el  corage,  ne  voleir 
De  retorner  en  la  cite 


TO  GUIDO  BELLE  COLONNE  89 

/ 

In   the   three   lines  which   describe   the 

death  of  Hector  is  a  phrase  of  which  the 
syntactical  position,  which  offers  difficulty, 
is  best  explained  by  a  comparison  with  the 
parallel  passage  in  Guido :  — 

"  For  as  he  drough  a  king  by  th'  aventayle, 
Unwar  of  this,  Achilles  through  the  mayle 
And  through  the  body  gan  him  ryve." l  v// 

Son  corage  est  molt  tost  mue 
Poi  veritable  et  poi  estable." 

Cf.  FiL,  VI.  9,  1  =  T.  and  C.,  V.  842.  Cf.  also  R.  de  T., 
13403-13408 ;  Constans  Chrestomathie  de  Vancien  franpaise, 
1884,  p.  62,  II.  169  ff.,  a  mere  general  statement  in  which 
Broatch  (I.e.,  p.  18)  somehow  finds  the  same  definite  state- 
ment as  in  Guido.  Lydgate  in  his  Troy-book  (sig.  R 
3  verso,  col.  1-2),  refers  his  readers  to  Chaucer's  poem 
for  the  complete  story  of  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  who  are 
only  incidentally  mentioned  in  Guide's  narrative,  but  on 
this  one  point  introduces  the  statement  of  the  Historia  in 
a  garbled'  form :  • — 

"  But  Guydo  sayth  longe  or  it  was  nyght, 
How  Cryseyde  hath  forsake  her  owne  knight 
And  gave  her  herte  unto  this  Diomode, 
Of  tendernesse  and  of  womanhede." 

i  T.  and  C.,  V.  1558-1560. 


90  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  Achilles  .  .  .  accepta  quadam  lancea  valde 
forti  non  advertente  Hectore,  velociter  in  Hec- 
torem  irruit."1 

Finally,  when  in  one  of  his  closing 
stanzas,  — 

"  Lo  here,  of  Payens  corsed  olde  rytes, 
Lo  here,  what  alle  hir  goddes  may  availle ; 
Lo  here,  these  wrecehed  worldes  appetytes ; 

1  Historia,  sig.  i  6  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf .  1 3  recto,  col.  1.    The 
rest  of  the  passage  is  due  to  Benoit.,  R.  de  T.,  16166-16178, 
esp.  16169  (cf.  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  204)  :  — 
"  Par  la  ventaille  le  teneit." 

"  Aventayle  "  has  been  listed  with  "  Romance  words 
that  end  with  a  consonant  in  French  [but]  take  an  -e-  in 
the  Troilus"  G.  L.  Kittredge,  Observations  on  the  Lan- 
guage of  Chaucer's  Troilus,  p.  87 ;  where  the  O.  F.  form 
"esventail"  is  given.  Broatch  (I.e.,  p.  19),  who  questions 
Skeat's  attribution  (I.e.,  p.  Ix.)  of  the  original  to  a  passage 
in  Guido,  says,  "  Chaucer  might  perhaps  be  allowed  to 
have  invented  the  <  eventaille.' "  The  aventaille  of  the 
twelfth  to  fourteenth  centuries  was  a  hood-shaped  head- 
dress made  of  chain-mail,  protecting  the  forehead  and 
chin,  on  which  the  helmet  rested,  and  the  front  part  of 
which  fell  on  the  breast.  ( J.  Quicherat,  Melanges  d'arche- 
ologie,  etc.,  1886,  pp.  314-324 ;  Hist,  du  costume  en  France, 
pp.  133,  288 ;  Viollet-le-duc,  Diet,  du  mobilier  francais, 
vol.  VI.  pp.  353-357;  105-107,  Plates.)  Cf.  Skeat,  Works 
of  Chaucer,  vol.  V.  p.  352. 


TO    GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  91 

Lo  here,  the  fyn  and  guerdon  for  travaille 
Of  Jove,  Appollo,  of  Mars  of  swich  rascaille 
Lo  here,  the  fornie  of  olde  clerkes  speche. 
In  poetrye,  if  ye  hir  bokes  seche,"1 


which  form  a  pendant  to  a  preceding  one 
in  which  the  finale  of  the  story  is  given, 
as  found  in  the  Filostrato?  he  moralizes  on 
his  poem/  showing  an  intolerance  not  found 
elsewhere  in  his  works 4  toward  the  pagan 
deities,  whom  he  has  utilized  for  poetical 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1849-1855;  cf.  V.  206-207,  B.  of  Zt 
52-55 :  — 

"  And  in  this  boke  were  written  fables 

That  clerkes  hadde,  in  olde  tyme 
And  other  poets,  put  in  ryme 
To  read." 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1828-1834  =  PH.,  VHI.  28. 
8Cf.  L.of  G.  W.,  468-474. 

4  There  is  only  one  other  passage  in  Chaucer,  and  that 
in  a  poem  written  in  the  same  period  as  the  Troilus,  in 
which  a  like  sentiment  is  found.  Cf.  The  Former  Age, 

57-59 :  — 

"  Yit  was  not  Jupiter  the  likerous 

That  first  was  father  of  delicacye, 
Come  in  this  world," 
and  with  this  cf .  Paradiso,  XV.  107  ff. 


92  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

purposes  in  this  very  poem/  he  shows  the 
influence  of  passages  in  the  Historia  in 
which  Guido  inveighs  against  the  deceptions 
and  falsities  of  heathendom.2 

A  Paadarus  is  mentioned  first  in  the 
list  of  allies  who  came  to  aid  Troy,  accord- 
ing to  the  narrative  of  both  Benoit  and 
Guido,  and  the  same  person  finds  place  in 
another  episode.3  Boccaccio  has  adopted 

1  T.  and  C.,  I.  6-9 ;  III.  1-46 ;  IV.  22-26. 

2  Historia,  sig.  e  5  recto,  col.  2  —  e  6  recto,  col.  1 ; 
i  3  recto,  col.  1.    In  the  Troilus,  as  in  the  other  poems, 
Chaucer  shows  an  acquaintance  with  a  late  recension  of 
the  Roman  de  Thebes.     For  similarity  in  language  and 
sentiment  with  the  stanza  of  Chaucer,  these  lines  may  be 
quoted   (R.  de   T.  ed.   Constans,  col.  II.  p.   15,  4337- 
4442):  — 

"  Ff  ors  solement  danz  Jupiter 
Qui  tint  un  dart  agu  de  fer 
Mars  fu  dejoste  lui  a  destre ; 
Le  proz  Pallas  fu  a  senestre 
Cil  dui  valent  en  bataille ; 
Plus  que  toute  Pautre  raschaille." 

8  Among  the  combatants  in  the  fourth  battle  is  men- 
tioned (R.  de  T.  11179)  «  Car  le  reis  i  fu  Pandarus  " 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONSTE  93 

this  name  as  that  of  the  cousin  of  the 
heroine  of  the  Filostrato,  —  who,  in  the 
Troilus,  has  become  her  uncle/  —  and 

(no  equivalent  in  Historia,  sig.  h  4  verso,  col.  1),  who 
fights  with  Agamemnon  (11217-11220)  :  — 
"Agamemnon  et  Pandarus 
Se  porterent  des  chevax  jus, 
Bien  s'ateinstrent  et  se  ferirent 
Et  durement  se  combatirent," 
which  Guido  renders  (Historia,  sig.  h  5  recto,  col.  1), — 

"  Rex  agamemnon  et  rex  pandalus  (sic)  inter  in  simul 
concurrentes  ambo  se  sternunt  ab  equis." 

Lydgate  (Troy-book,  sig.  Q  i  verso,  col.  2)  makes  the 
name  "  Pantysylaus " ;  the  Gest  Hystoriale,  7460,  omits 
the  episode.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Latin  text  in  the 
corresponding  passages  (Historia,  sig.  g  4  verso,  col.  1 ; 
i  1  recto,  col.  2)  to  answer  to  Benoit's  mention  (R.  de  T. 
8101)  of  "Li  reis  Pandarus  de  Sezile,"  as  one  of  those 
who  did  not  go  out  to  fight  in  the  second  battle  ;  nor  to  the 
lines,  in  the  account  of  the  conference  of  the  Greeks  and 
Trojans  to  arrange  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  in 
which  permission  for  the  return  of  the  daughter  of 
Calchas  to  her  father  is  granted  (cf.  p.  104),  R.  de  T., 
12937-12939 : — 

"  Agamemnon  et  Menelaus 

Reis  Pandarus  et  Aiaus. 

Et  li  halt  home  des  Grezeis." 

i  Fit,  II.  20,  6  ;  23,  2  ;  27,  7  =  T.  and  C.,  I.  975. 


94  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

through,  his  story,  which  passed  through 
such  various  vicissitudes,  in  English  it  has 
come  to  be  a  term  of  reproach.  Chaucer 
likewise  has  not  hesitated  to  take  a  name 
from  one  of  the  sources,  and  by  various 
changes,  has  created  an  entirely  new 
character.  In  the  list  referred  to,  we 
find  in  Guido  the  phrase, — 

"  Sciendus  est  ergo  quod  de  regnis  eorum  licet 
dares  frigius  nihil  inde  dixerit  venerunt  tres 
reges  cum  plus  quam  tribus  milibus  militum 
armatomm,  rex  videlicet  Pandarus,  rex  Thabor 
et  rex  Andastrus," 1 

1  Historia,  sig.  f  5  verso,  col.  1-2.  "  Pandorus  "  in 
text,  but  the  correct  reading  is  confirmed  by  the  original 
passage  in  the  R  de  T.,  6645-6646,  cf.  Constans,  I.e., 
p.  54:  — 

"  De  Sezile  i  vint  Pandarus 
Hupoz  li  vielz  et  Adrastus," 

(which  in  turn  renders  the  phrase  in  Dares,  22,  15,  "  De 
Zelia  Pandarus  Amphius  Adrastus ")  ;  and  Lydgate's 
translation  (Troy-look,  sig.  M  5  recto,  col.  2),  "The 
first  of  them  was  called  Pandarus,"  although  in  the  Gest 
Hystoriale  (8536)  he  is  given  a  Celtic  surname  —  "  Pen- 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  95 

and  just  as  the  Italian  writer  made  use  of 
Pandarus,  so  Chaucer,  by  a  metathesis  of 
form  and  a  change  of  sex,  gives  Criseyde 

dragon  the  pert,"  while  Adrastus  becomes  "  Adasthon  " 
(5438).  Benoit  based  part  of  his  episode  of  "the  dread 
Saggitarius  "  (R.  de  T.,  12207-12348)  upon  the  passage 
in  Dictys  (II.  40-41),  which  tells  of  the  exploits  of  the 
Lycian  archer,  Pandarus,  and  his  death  by  the  hands  of 
Diomedes.  (Joly,  I.e.  vol.  I.  p.  209,  cf.  p.  229  ;  W.  Greif, 
Die  mittelalterichen  Bearbeitungen  der  Troyanersage,  Mar- 
burg, 1885,  p.  00. ;  R.  Jaeckel,  Dares,  Phrygius  und  Benoit 
de  Ste.  More,  Breslau,  1875,  p.  53 ;  E.  Meybrinck,  I.e.,  p.  23.) 
This  Pandarus  and  another,  the  companion  of  ^Eneas,  are 
mentioned  in  the  jEneid  (V.  496;  IX.  672;  XL  396). 
It  is  unnecessary  to  assume,  as  Hertzberg,  that  (I.e., 
pp.  189-200,  accepted  by  G.  Koerting,  Boccaccio's  Leben, 
p.  591)  "  den  Namen  Pandarus  als  vox  hybrida  des  Omens 
wegen  ausgedeutet  und  fur  den  Freund  gewahlt  hat,  der 
dem  Troilus  alles  giebt,  Leben  und  Lebensgliick."  This 
explanation  is  based  upon  that  given  in  a  passage  in  the 
Prcemio  of  the  Filostrato  in  which  the  title  is  explained 
as  being  about  a  "  uomo  vinto  e  abbattuto  da  amore,  (p.  1, 
cf.  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  197)  ;  but  this  symbolical  explana- 
tion may  not  be  Boccaccio's  (cf.  H.  L.  D.  Ward,  Cat. 
of  Romances,  vol.  I.  p.  68 ;  P.  Savj-Lopez,  Rom,  vol. 
XXVII.  pp.  444-445).  Landau,  (G.  Boccaccio,  p.  90),  and 
Morf  (Rom,  XXI.  p.  106)  notice  the  use  of  name  in 
Benoit. 


96  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

a  niece  with  the  name  of  Tharbe,1  in  the 
same  way  as  he  found  the  name  of  another 
niece,  "Flexippe,"  in  that  of  the  uncle  of 
Meleager,  "  Plexippus," 2  an  outline  of 
whose  history  is  given  in  the  Troilusf 
taken  from  Ovid.4  Again,  when  Pandarus; 
to  alarm  Criseyde,  states  that  Troilus  — 

1  T.  and  C.,  II.  815-816,  1563:  — 

"  And  u£  and  doun  ther  made  many  a  wente 
Flexippe,  she,  Tharbe  and  Antigone." 

"  Antigone,  hir  sister  Tarbe  also." 

2  Ovid,  Met.,  VIII.  439-440  :  — 

"  hausitque  nef ando 
pectora  Plexippi,  nil  tale  timentia,  ferro." 

8  T.  and  C.,  V.  1464-1484;  cf.  C.T.,  A,  2069-2071. 

4  Ovid,  Met.,  VIII.  260-532.  On  Latin  proper  names 
of  masculine  gender  which  "  have  lost  a  final  -s,  sometimes 
with  further  change  of  form,"  cf.  ten  Brink,  Chaucers 
Sprache  und  Verskunst,  p.  264;  Kittredge,  Z.c.,  pp.  382- 
383,  when  the  masculine  form  would  be  identical  with 
the  feminine  as  in  this  example.  The  forms  of  the  names 
in  the  line  "Circes  eke,  and  Calipsa"  (H.  of  F.,  1272), 
are  already  found  in  Benoit  and  Guido.  Ulysses's  ad- 
ventures with  Circe  and  Calypso  in  these  two  writers 
(R.  de  T.,  28576  ff.,  Constans  in  Hist,  de  la  langue  et 
la  led.  dt  franpaise,  p.  196 ;  Hist.,  sig.  o  1  verso,  col.  2 ; 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  97 

"  seyth  him  told  is,  of  a  f reend  of  his 
How  that  ye  sholde  love  oon  that  hatte  Horaste, 
For  sorwe  of  which  this  night  shall  been  his 
laste,1 

and  the  heroine  denies  the  charge  with  the 
answer,  — 

"  Horaste  !  alias  !  and  f alsen  Troilus  ? 
I  knewe  him  not,  god  helpe  me  so,"  2 

the  name  of  this  fictitious  lover  seems  to 
have  been  borrowed  from  Guido's^account 
of  Orestes  in  which  the  name  always  appears 
as  "  Horestes." 8 

where  false  reading  "Calipha"),  form  one  episode,  the 
source  from  which  Gower  drew  his  account,  and  to  which 
he  refers  elsewhere.  (C.  A.  VI.  1391  ff.,  VIII.  2598  ff. ; 
Mirour  de  I'omme,  16674  ff. ;  Balades,  XXX.  12 ;  Traitie, 
VI.  17  ff.) 

1  T.  and  C.,  III.  796-798.  2  Ibid.,  III.  806-807. 

3  Historic  sig.  m  8  verso,  col.  2 ;  n  6  recto,  col.  2, 
"De  Horeste  vindicante  mortem  patris,"  while  in  the 
R.  de  T.  (27958,  28157,  28166,  28182)  the  name  always 
appears  as  "  Orestes."  Kittredge  (p.  347)  notes  the 
forms  "  Horestes,"  "  Horest[e]  "  in  Gower's  account 
(C.  A.,  III.  1885  ff.,  cf.  Traitie  IX.  18),  which  is 
based  upon  both  sources.  The  "fals  Poliphete"  (T.  and 
C.,  II.  1467,  cf.  1615,  1618)  who,  in  an  episode  which  is 


CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

.ere  are  a  number  of   details  in   the 
.glish  poem,  not  found  in  the  Filostrato, 
hich  could  have  been  suggested  equally 

an  innovation  of  the  English  poet  (II.  1394-1757,  III. 
50-224),  is  charged  by  Pandarus  with  bringing  "advo- 
cacyes  newe "  against  Criseyde,  must  be  the  "  Cererique 
sacrum  Polyphoeten  "  of  the  dEneid  (VI.  484)  who  as  a 
Trojan  priest  could  very  properly  take  steps  against  the 
daughter  of  the  renegade  Calchas.  The  Greek  leader 
Polypoetes,  whom  Hector  is  stripping  of  his  armor, 
when  he  is  slain  by  Achilles,  according  to  the  narrative 
of  Dares  (30,  5-10),  does  not  appear  in  either  Benoit  or 
Guido.  In  that  episode  the  name  of  the  Greek  is  not 
given  (R.  de  T.,  16166;  Historia,  sig.  i  6  recto,  col.  1), 
but  the  French  poet,  making  two  episodes  of  the  one  in 
his  original,  represents  Hector  as  slaying  one  Politenes  just 
before  (R.  de  T.,  16105-16148 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  5  verso,  col. 
2).  This  name  is  that  substituted  by  Benoit  (R.  de  T., 
5671, 8252-8253,  "  Politenes  ")  for  the  classical  Philoctetes 
(Dares,  19,  2),  which  again  is  displaced  in  Guido  by  Poli- 
pebus  (Historia,  sig.  e  3  verso,  col.  1),  while  Polypoetes 
appears  in  both  authors  as  Polibetes  (R.  de  T.,  5663,  8243, 
9981 ;  Historia,  I.e.),  and  in  Guido  as  a  doublet  of  the 
name  in  the  form  Polipotes  (Historia,  I.e.).  He  appears 
elsewhere  in  Guido  as  Philotois  (sig.  g  4  verso,  col.  2), 
and  again  as  Philit(h)eas  (sig.  h  1  verso,  col.  1;  h  5 
recto,  col.  1),  which  corresponds  in  all  these  places  to 
Benoit's  Filitoas  (R.  de  T.,  8189,  9065,  9375).  T.  E. 
Oliver,  MileCs  Destruction  de  Troye^  p.  229. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  99 

well  by  passages  in  either  Benoit  or  Guido. 
Such  are  the  allusions  to  the  journey  of       \r 
Calchas    to    Delphi    and    his    subsequent 
actions/  as  he 

"  Knew  wel  that  Troye  sholde  destroyed  be, 
By  answere,  of  his  god,  that  highte  thus, 
Daun  Phebus  or  Apollo  Delphicus. 
So  whan  this  Calkas  knew  by  calculinge 
And  eek  by  answere  of  this  Apollo, 
That  Grekes  sholden  swich  a  peple  bringe 
Thorugh    which    that    Troye     moste     been 
for-do;"2 

"  Appollo  hath  me  told  it  f eithfully ; "  3 

1  Cf .  p.  74,  note. 

2  T.  and  C.,  I.  68-74.    Fil.,  I.  8,  7-8  has  merely 

"Conobbe  e  vide,  dopo  lunga  guerra 
I  Troian  morti  e  distrutta  la  terra," 

which  is  again  translated  in  T.  and  C.,  I.  76-77. 

3  T.  and  C.,  IV.  114.     Skeat   (I.e.,  p.  462)  wrongly 
states  that  Guido  puts  Calchas  "  in  the  place  of  Homer's 
Chryses,"  as  the  latter  appears  in  Benoit   as  a  fellow- 
priest  of  the  former   (R.  de  T.,  25618-25619 ;  Historia, 
sig.  m  4  verso,  col.  2),  after  he  had  come  to  the  Greek 
camp  to  recover  his  daughter  Astronomen  (26746-26907), 
an  incident  omitted  in  Historia,  sig.  n  1  recto,  col.  1. 


100  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  Thus  shal  I  seyn,  and  that  his  coward  herte 
Made  him  amis  the  goddes  text  to  glose 
When  he  for  ferde  out  of  his  Delphos  sterte," 1 

and  to  the  treason  of  Antenor,  — 

"  This  folk  desiren  now  deliveraunce 
Of  Antenor,  that  broughte  hem  to  mischaunce ! 

For  he  was  after  traytour  to  the  toun 

Of  Troye ;    alias  !    they   quitte   him   out   to 

rathe. 
O  nyce  world,  lo,  thy  discrecioun !  "  2 

which  are  told  at  length  in  both  the  Latin 
and  the  French  romances.8 

Again,  when  Chaucer  introduces  Troilus 
returning  from  battle  past  Criseyde's  house : 

"  For  thurgh  this  strete  he  moot  to  palays  ryde; 

For  other  wey  is  fro  the  yate  noon, 

Of  Dardanus,  there  open  is  the  cheyne,"  4 

1  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1409-1411;    cf.  1396,  "For  al  Ap- 
pollo,  or  his  clerkes  lawes."         2  T.  and  C.,  IV.  202-206. 

3  R.  de  T.,  24373-26038 ;  Historia,  sig.  m  1  recto,  col.  1 ; 
cf.  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  203;  Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  Ivii;   Broatch, 
l.c.,  p.  16. 

4  T.  and  C.,  II.  616-618.    Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  470,  thinks  that 
the  opening  of  the  "  cheyne  "  refers  to  the  street. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  101 

there  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  passage  in 
both  authors,  in  which  Hector  orders  that 
Dardanides,  one  of  the  six  gates  of  Troy/ 
be  opened  to  allow  the  egress  of  his  army 
to  meet  the  Greeks  in  their  second  battle.2 
When  Chaucer  writes, — 

"  At  whiche  day  was  taken  Antenore, 
Maugre  Polydamus  or  Monesteo, 
Santippe,  Sarpedon,  Polynestore, 
Polyte,  or  eek  the  Trojan  daun  Ripheo,"  3 

he  has  been  directly  dependent  upon  Boc- 
caccio for  the  list  of  names,  even  retaining 
their  Italian  forms, — 

"  Ed  assai  ve  ne  f uron  per  prigioni 
Nobili  re,  ed  altri  gran  baroni. 
Tra  quali  fu  il  magnifico  Antenorre, 
Polidamas  suo  figlio,  e  Monesteo, 
Santippo,  Serpedon,  Polinestorre, 
Polite  ancora,  ed  il  troian  Eifeo,"  4 

1  R.  de  T.,  3129-3139 ;  cf .  Constans,  I.e.,  p.  67.   Historia, 
sig.  c  1  verso,  col.  1 ;  cf .  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  pp.  191-192. 

2  R.  de  T.,  7643-7658;  Historia,  sig.  g  3  recto,  col.  2. 
8  T.  and  C.,  IV.  50-53.  4  Fil.,  IV.  3,  1-4. 


102  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

but  has  made  a  radical  change  in  the  state- 
ment of  the  facts.     For  both  in  the  Roman 
de  Troie1  and  the  Historia?  Polydamas  — 
the  other  names  are  additions  of  the  Italian 
\y    poet  —  appears,  not  as  the  fellow-prisoner, 
x^>    but    as   the   distressed   son   who   uselessly 
attempts  the  rescue  of  his  father.     And  it 
was  by  this  change  that  the  English  poet 
avoided   the   inconsistency  of   which   Boc- 
caccio was   guilty  in   having  Troilus  and 
Pandarus  visit  Sarpedon,  of  whose  return 
from  captivity  he  makes  no  mention.3 
Again,  if  Chaucer's  lines,  — 

"  Of  Pryamus  was  yeve,  at  Greek  request 
A  tyme  of  trewe,"  4 

1  R.  de  T.,  12401-12415. 

2  Historia,  sig.  h  6  verso,  col.  2  —  i  1  recto,  col.  1. 

8  Fil,  V.  38-48;    T.  and  C.,  V.  430-500  ^gf.  W.  M. 
Rossetti,  Comparison,  etc.  p.  246;  Skeat,  1.  c.,  p. '497. 

4  T.  and  C.,  IV.  57-58.     Cf.  variants :  — 
"  But  natheles  a  trewe  was  ther  take 
At  gret  requeste." 
"  To  (of)  Priamus  was  yeve  at  his  (gret,  Grek,  Grekes) 

requeste 
A  time  of  trewe." 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  103 

flatly  contradict  the  statement  in  the 
Filostrato,  —  / 

"  Chiese  Priamo  triegua,  e  fu  gli  data,"1 

it  is  because  the  English  poet  accepted  in 
preference  the  joint  authority  of  his  two 
other  sources.  According  to  Benoit  and 
Guido,  tEe  Greeks  send  Ulysses  and  Dio- 
medes  as  legates  to  ask  for  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  under  the  plea  that  they  wish  to 
bury  xtheir  dead,  which  are  breeding  disease 
in  their  camp.  In  the  council  that  Priam 
calls,  Hector  alone  speaks  against  granting 
the  truce  because  he  thinks  that  the  true 
reason  for  the  Greeks'  request  is  that  they 
may  obtain  provisions.  But  the  opinion  of 
the  majority,  with  which  Priam  agrees,  pre- 
vails,2 and  in  an  ensuing  conference  of  the 
Trojan  and  Greek  leaders,  arrangements 
are  made  for  the  exchange  of  Thoas  and 

1  FU.  IV.  4, 1. 

2  Cf.  Dares,  27,  11-28,  3. 


104  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Anterior;  and,  at  the  request  of  Calchas 
through  his  superiors,  Priam  is  not  unwill- 
ing to  allow  the  daughter  of  the  recreant 
Trojan  to  go  to  her  father  in  the  Greek 
camp.1 

And  from  this  narrative  Chaucer  modi- 
fied the  story  as  he  found  it  in  his  Italian 
prototype.  He  follows  Boccaccio  in  making 
the  return  of  Antenor  —  who  has  been 
given  to  Calchas  as  a  personal  prisoner  — 
contingent  upon  that  of  Criseyde,2  but  in- 
troduces Thoas,  whom  he  does  not  else- 
where mention,  as  one  of  the  parties  in  the 
exchange  of  prisoners  :  — 

"  And  of  this  thing  fill  sone  his  nedes  leyde 
On  hem  that  sholden  for  the  tretis  go, 

1  R.  de  T.  12690-12986 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  1  recto,  col.  1; 
i  1  verso,  col.  1 ;  cf.  wrong  account  in  Skeat.  I.e.,  p.  486. 

*FU.9  IV.  10,  4-6;  12,  7-8;  13;  14,  1-3;  15,  6-8; 
17,5-8;  43,1-4;  78,  7-8;  VI,  19,  2-3;  T.  and  C.,  IV. 
Ill,  133-136,  140-147,  149,  177,  195-196,  207-212,  344- 
347,  663-665;  V.  905.  There  is  no  equivalent  in  the 
English  poem  for  Fil.,  V.  1,  2-3;  8,  5-8.  Cf.  Oliver, 
Milet's  Destruction,  pp.  98-100. 


TO  GUIDO  BELLE  COLONNE  105 

And  hem  for  Antenor  ful  ofte  preyde 

To  bringen  hoom  king  Thoas1  and  Criseyde."2 

Again,  the  speech  of  Hector  in  the  Trojan 
"  parlement "  against  the  exchange  of  a 
woman  for  a  man,8  which  finds  no  precedent 
in  the  Filostrato,  was  no  doubt  suggested 
by  the  similar  position  he  takes  concern- 
ing the  truce  in  the  common  sources  of  the 
English  and  Italian  poems,  and  the  outcry 
of  the  people  against  this  plea 4  is  suggestive 

1  The  manuscript  reading  "  Toas,"  adopted  by  Skeat, 
is  not  justified  by  spelling  in  either  Benoit  or  Guido. 

2  T.  and  C.,  IV.  135-138 ;  cf .  Hertzberg.  Lc.,  p.  203. 
Lydgate    Troy-book,   sig.    Q    5   verso,    col.    2,    r    verso, 
col.  2  ff.,  has  combined  the   narratives  of   Guido  and 
Chaucer.     It  may  be  noted  that  MS.  Harl.,  1239,  an  in- 
ferior manuscript,   has   a  reading    which  obviates  the 
"  Thoas  "  episode  in  Chaucer  :  — 

"  And  hem  ful  ofte  specyally  preyde 
For  Antenor  to  bringe  home  Creseide  " 

(Globe  Chaucer,  p.  510 ;  cf.  p.  xlii. ;  Skeat,  I.e.,  Ixxii.). 

8  T.  and  C.,  IV.  176-182 ;  cf.  Chaucer's  introduction 
of  him  as  a  friend  of  Criseyde  in  her  case  against  Poli- 
phete,  II.  1450-1466,  1481 ;  cf .  I,  113-123. 

4  T.  and  C.,  IV.  183-196. 


106  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

of  their  better  expression  of  opinion  upon 

Calchas  when  they  learn  that  he  wishes  his 

daughter,  as  stated  in  the  same  authorities.1 

When  the  heroine  meets  her  father,  she 

"Stood  forth  mewet,  milde,  and  mansuete,"2 
as  in  the  Filostrato, 

"  Ella  si  stava  tacita  e  modesta,"  3 

while  in  the  narrative  of  both  their  prede- 
cessors, the  heroine  reproaches  her  father 
bitterly  for  having  such  faith  in  the  answers 
of  Apollo,  which  are  not  assured,  as  to  leave 
his  honorable  position  in  Troy  to  become  an 
ally  of  the  bitter  foes  of  his  native  country ; 4 
to  which  Calchas  replies  by  saying,  that  he 
has  the  undoubted  promise  of  the  gods  that 
Troy  will  be  destroyed  in  a  short  time,  and 
that  it  will  be  better  for  them  to  escape  the 
fate  of  the  other  inhabitants;  whereupon 
Breseida  seems  to  accept  the  situation,  espe- 

1 R.  de  T.,  12967-12972 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  1  verso,  col.  1. 
2  T.  and  C.,  V.  194.  *  Ftt.,  V.  14,  3. 

4  Broatch  (I.e.,  p.  16)  says  that  in  Guido,  "  the  speech 
of  Briseida  is  mere  railing." 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  107 

cially  when  the  Greek  princes  receive  her 
with  all  kindness.1  But  just  as  Boccaccio 
in  the  discussion  of  Troilus  with  his  mis- 
tress before  her  departure  from  Troy  antici- 
pates the  speech  of  Calchas,2  and  foretells 
her  favorable  reception  by  the  Greeks/  so 
Chaucer  in  the  corresponding  place  in  his 
poem  has  Criseyde  tell  how  she  is  going  to 
rebuke  her  father.4 

In  Boccaccio's  poem,  the  heroine  merely 
states  that  she  will  persuade  her  father 
to  allow  her  return  to  Troy,  to  recover 

her  property  which 

"  el  per  avarizia 
Delia  mia  ritornata  avra  letizia."  6 

1R.  de  T.,  13684-13830;  Historic*,  sig.  i  2  verso, 
col.  2  — 13  recto,  col.  2. 

*Fil.9  IV.  142,  2-3;  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1479-1482 ;  cf.  R. 
de  T.,  13767-13778.  Historia,  sig.  i  3  recto,  col.  1, 
"  Scio  enim  .  .  .  trucidatis." 

8  Fil.9  IV.  142,  4-5 ;  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1485-1488  ;  R.  de  T., 
13814-13822.  Historia,  sig.  i  3  recto,  cols.  1-2,  "In 
adventu  .  .  .  replent  earn." 

4Cf.  Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  Ivii.;  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  16. 

*FiL,  IV.  136. 


108  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

In  the  Troilus  this  is  elaborated  into  a 
definite  plan,  by  which  she  is  to  bribe, 
deceive,  and  cajole  Calchas  into  repudiat- 
ing the  authority  of  the  oracles  of  Apollo.1 
And,  in  the  following  lines,  there  is  a 
reminiscence  of  the  speech  of  Brisaide  to 
her  father  in  the  earlier  writers :  — 

*T.  and  C.,  IV.  1356-1414.  Cf.  « Amphibologia ; 
ambigua  dictio  .  .  .  ut  illud  responsum  Apollinis  ad 
Pyrrhum, 

'  Aio  te,  Aiacida,  Romanes  vincere  posse.' 

In  quo  non  est  certum  quern  in  ipso  versu  monstraverit 
esse  victorem"  (Isidorus,  Etymologiarum,  Lib.  I.  ch.  34; 
Migne,  Patr.,  vol.  82,  col.  109).  Chaucer  makes  use  of  an- 
other etymology  from  the  same  source  in  the  Persones 
Tale,  where  "  seint  Isidre  "  is  referred  to  at  first  hand  (C. 
T.,  I.  551 ;  Etym.,  Lib.  XVH.  ch.  7 ;  Migne,  I.e.,  col.  615 ; 
cf.  C.  T.,  I.  85).  But  the  first  definition  of  Isidore  is 
based  upon  a  chapter  in  Cicero's  De  Divinatione  (II.  56), 
where  oracles  are  scored  in  a  passage  much  resembling 
Chaucer's  lines,  "Tuis  enim  oraculis  Chrysippus  totum 
volumen  implevit  partim  f  alsis,  ut  ego  opinor,  partim  casu 
veris,  ut  fit  in  omni  oratione  ssepissime,  partim  flexiloquis 
et  obscuris  ut  interpres  egeat  interprete  et  sors  ipsa  ad 
sortes  referenda  sit,  partim  ambiguis,  et  quae  ad  dialec- 
tum  deferendse  sint."  Then  follow  references  to  "  hanc 
amphiboliam"  (in  inferior  texts  "  amphibologiam "), 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  109 

"  For  al  Appollo,  or  his  clerkes  lawes, 
Or  calculinge  avayleth  nought  three  hawes ; 

the  answer  of  the  oracle  to  Pyrrhus,  cited  above,  and 
"  ilia  amphibolia,"  which  was  given  to  Croesus. 

Chaucer's  definition  of  Boccaccio's  word  "  ambages  " 
(T.  and  C.,  V.  898-899),— 

"  That  is  to  seyn,  with  double  wordes  slye, 

Swich  as  men  clepe  a  word  '  with  two  visages,'  " 
is  rather  that  of  "  amphibologyes,"  which  he  uses  as  a 
synonym.  A  misunderstanding  of  another  passage  (De 
Div.,  II.  54-55,  "  Quamobrem  .  .  .  Cassandra ")  seemed 
to  have  supplied  him  with  his  second  name  for  Cassan- 
dra (T.  and  C.,  V.  1450-1451)  :  — 

"  For  which  he  for  Sibille  his  suster  sente 
That  called  was  Cassandre  eek  al  aboute." 

This  work  of  Cicero  is  largely  taken  up  with  an 
adverse  criticism  of  the  work  of  the  Stoic  Chrysippus  on 
dreams  and  oracles,  and  it  may  be  to  it  that  Chaucer 
refers,  in  the  Wife  of  Bath's  Prologue,  as  being  one  of 
the  books  "  bounden  in  one  volume  "  that  Jankin  had 
(C.  T.,  D,  677)  :  — 

"  Crisippus,  Trotula,  and  Helowys." 

Chaucer  had  found  the  De  Divinatione  cited  in  Boe- 
thius  (B.  V.  pr.  4,  11,  3  ff.),  and  made  use  of  it  at  first 
hand  in  the  Nonne  Preestes  Tale  (C.  T.,  B,  4174-4294; 
De  Div.,  I.  27.  Cf.  C.  T.,  B,  4113-4126;  T.  and  C.,  V. 
369-371 ;  De  Div.,  I.  29.  Cf.  K.  O.  Petersen,  Sources  of 
Nonne  Preestes  Tale,  pp.  106-110).  Cf.  Works  of  Chaucer^ 
vol.  V.,  p.  309. 


110  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Desyr  of  gold  shal  so  his  sowle  blende 
That,  as  me  lyst,  I  shal  wel  make  an  ende. 

"  And  if  he  wolde  ought  by  his  sort  it  preve 
If  that  I  lye,  in  certayn  I  shal  f onde 
Distorben  him,  and  plukke  him  by  the  sieve, 
Makinge  his  sort,  and  beren  him  on  honde, 
He  hath  not  wel  the  goddes  understonde. 
For  goddes  speken  in  amphibologyes, 
And,  for  a  sooth,  they  tellen  twenty  lyes. 

"  Eek  drede  fond  first  goddes,  I  suppose, 
Thus  shal  I  seyn,  and  that  his  coward  herte, 
Made  him  amis  the  goddes  text  to  glose, 
Whan  he  for  ferde  out  of  his  Delphos  sterte."1 

Again,  when  Troilus  foresees  the  argu- 
ments of  her  father  against  her  return  to 
the  city, — 

1  T.  and  C.9  IV.  1397-1411.  Cf.  R.  de  T.,  13732- 
13737 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  3  recto,  col.  1 :  — 

"Sane  decepemnt  te  Apollinis  falsa  responsa  " 
(cf.  PH.,  VII.  90,  7-8), 

"  Sane  non  f uit  ille  deus  Appollo  sed  potius  puto  fuit 
comitiva  infernalium  furiarum  a  quibus  responsa  susce- 
pisti." 

Cf.    Skeat    (I.e.    p.  Ivii);    Broatch   (I.e.,  p.    16);    also 
p.  99. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  111 

"  And  over  al  this,  your  fader  shal  despyse 
Us  alle,  and  seyn  this  citee  nis  but  lorn  ; 
And  that  th'  assege  never  shal  aryse, 
For-why  the  Grekes  ban  it  alle  sworn 
Til  we  be  slayn,  and  doun  our  walles  torn,"  l 

he  has  enlarged  upon  two  lines  of  the 
Filostrato?  by  borrowing  from  his  other 
sources.3  Chaucer's  comment  upon  Cri- 
seyde's  promises  to  use  every  means  to 
return  to  Troy, — 

i  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1478-1482.  *  Cf .  p.  74>  n. 

*R.  de  T.,  13767-13773.    Cf.  A.  Mussafia,  Sitzb.  der 
Wiener  AL  Phil.-Hist.  Klasse,  vol.  67,  p.  324 :  — 
"  Ensorquetot  bien  vei  et  sei, 
Que  morz  et  destruiz  les  verrai 
Si  nos  vient  mielz  aillors  garir 
Que  la  dedanz  o  els  morir. 
Mort  seront  il,  vencu  et  pris ; 
Car  li  Deu  Pont  issi  permis, 
Ce  ne  puet  noes  longues  durer ; " 
Historia,  sig.  i  3  recto,  col.  1 :  — 

"  Scio  enim  pro  certo  per  infabilium  promisa  deorum 
presentem  guerram  protendi  non  posse  tempore  diuturno 
et  quod  civitas  Troie  brevi  tempore  destruatur  et  ruat, 
destructis  ejus  omnibus  nobilibus  et  universis  plebeis  ejus 
in  ore  gladii  trucidatis.  Quare  carissima  filia,  satis  est 
melius  nobis  hie  esse  quam  hostili  gladio  serviente  perire." 

Cf .  p.  107,  note  2. 


112  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  And  treweliche,  as  writen  wel  I  finde, 
That  al  this  thing  was  seyd  of  good  entente, 
And  that  hir  herte  trewe  was  and  kinde 
Towardes  him,  and  spak  right  as  she  mente, 
And  that  she  starf  for  no  neigh,  whan  she 

wente 

And  was  in  purpos  ever  to  be  trewe, 
Thus  writen  they  that  of  hir  werkes  knewe," l 

part  of  which  he  restates  later  on, — 

"  And  trewely,  as  men  in  bokes  rede, 
Men  wiste  never  womman  han  the  care, 
Ne  was  so  looth  out  of  a  toun  to  fare,"  2 

has  no  parallel  in  the  Filostrato,  and  reverses 
the  sentiments  of  Benoit  and  Guido,  as  the 
first  comments  on  the  fickle  nature  of  the 
heroine/  while  the  latter  follows  up  his 
account  of  Brisaide's  sorrow  at  parting  by 
slurs  upon  her  sincerity,  and  a  diatribe 
against  the  faithlessness  of  woman.4 

1  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1415-1421.  *Ibid.,  V.  19-21. 

8£.  de  T.  13403-13408,  13826-13827. 

*Historia,  sig.  i  2  recto,  col.  2.  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1695- 
1701,  is  not  suggested  by  any  passage  in  either  Benoit  or 
Guido  (Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  Ivii. ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  17).  Chaucer 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  113 

The  declaration  of  his  passion  to  Cri- 
seyde  by  Diomedes1  and  her  answer  in 
their  ride  to  her  father's  tent2  after  Tro- 
ilus  has  delivered  her  into  his  care/  has 
its  precedent  in  both  the  0.  F.  and  Latin 
romances,  although  Chaucer  is  directly 

has  merely  developed  one  stanza  of  the  Filostrato  (IV.  167) 
into  two  of  his  own  (1688-1701).  «  The  day  gan  ryse  " 
translates  the  Italian  "  s'appressava  Gia  1'aurora,"  which 
seems  in  turn  to  be  suggested  by  Guide's  phrase,  "  Sed 
diei  hora  quasi  super veniente,"  (ffiston'a,  sig.  i  2  recto, 
col.  1). 

*Cf.  T.  and  C.,  V.  88,  "The  sone  of  Tydeus"  with 
R.  de  T.,  13499,  «  Filz  Tideus."  Cf .  p.  115,  n.  2. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  92-175. 

3Cf.  FiL,  V.  12,  2-3:  — 

"  a  Diomede  N"on  parlo  punto," 
with  T.  and  C.,  V.  86-87 :  — 

"  and  unto  Diomede 
No  word  he  spak,  ne  noon  of  all  his  route," 

where,  in  Chaucer's  addition,  may  be  a  reminiscence  of 
the  list  of  distinguished  Greeks  who  accompanied  Dio- 
medes, according  to  the  narrative  in  the  R.  de  T.,  13490- 
13494,  for  which  Guido  (Historia,  sig.  i  2  verso,  col.  1) 
has  merely,  "Sed  Grecis  advenientibus  ad  recipiendum 
eandem."  Cf.  Oliver,  I.e.,  p.  100. 


114  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

dependent  upon  the  speech  of  the  Greek 
lover  in  the  Roman  de  Troie,1  and  not 
upon  the  mere  summary  of  the  same  in 
Guido's  work,2  although  he  has  abridged 
Criseyde's  answer,  not  from  that  found  in 
Benoit,8  but  from  the  one  given  by  the 

1 R.  de  !F.,  13502,  13589, 13649-13673.  Cf .  particularly 
R.  de  T.,  13499,  13574-13580,  13526-13528,  13561-13566, 
13523-13525,  13543-13551,  with  T.  and  C.,  V.  88,  109- 
112,  155-158,  162-165,  169-175;  and  with  the  last  cf. 
the  speech  of  Troilus  where  same  passage  has  been  used, 
T.  and  C.,  IV.  1485-1488.  The  same  passage  of  Benoit 
has  been  utilized  in  the  FU.,  VI.  14-25,  VI.  21  =  T.  and 
C.,  V.  1489-1490.  Chaucer,  making  the  first  step  in  Dio- 
medes'  wooing  in  Boccaccio's  poem  the  second  in  his 
own,  translates  this  in  T.  and  C.  (V.  855-942,  but  940 
not  in  Fil.  Cf.  T.  and  C.,  V.  155-157). 

2  Historia,  sig.  i  2  verso,  col.  1. 

8  R.  de  T.,  13585-13643.  Yet  Chaucer  says  (V.  176) 
that  she  "  lyte  answerde  "  Broatch  (I.e.,  p.  17 ;  cf .  18, 27)  ; 
"  But  Benoit  has,  13671,  the  original  of  the  Chaucerian 
<  thanked  Diomede.'"  The  R.  de  T.,  13671-13672,  does 
state  that  Diomedes :  — 

"  Li  a  cri  cent  feiz  merci 
Que  de  lui  face  son  ami." 

(Cf.  R  de  T.,  14985,  with  T.  and  C.,  V.  1011)  ;  which  is 
not  quite  the  same  thing. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  115 

latter'  s  plagiarist.^  The  description  of  Dio- 


"  This  Diomedes  as  bokes  us  declare, 
Was  in  his  nedes  prest  and  corageous; 
With  sterne  voys  and  mighty  limes  square, 
Hardy,  testif,  strong  and  chevalrous 
Of  dedes,  lyk  his  father  Tideus, 
And  son  men  seyn,  he  was  of  tunge  large, 
And  heir  he  was  of  Calidoine  and  Arge,"  2 

is  an  enlargement  upon  the   lines  of  the 
Filostrato.  — 

j/  </ 

*Cf.  p.  83;  Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  203;  Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  Mi.; 
Bloatch,  l.c.,  p.  17. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  799-805.    Cf  .  803-805,  with  T.  and  C.9 
V.  932-934:  — 

"  l  For  if  my  fader  Tydeus,'  he  seyde, 
6  Y-lived  hadde,  I  hadde  been  er  this, 
Of  Calidoine  and  Arge  a  king,  Criseyde  !  '  " 
=  Fil.  VI.  24,  1,3:  — 

"  Se  '1  padre  mio  Tideo  fosse  vissuto, 
Di  Calidonia  et  d*  Argo  saria  suto." 
Guide's  statement  (Historia,  sig.  3  verso,  col.  1),  "dio- 
medes  .  .  .  de  terra  sua  argis,"  has  been  enlarged  upon  by 
Lydgate,  unquestionably  upon  the  authority  of  Chaucer, 
into  "fro   Calidonye   and   Arge"    (Troy-book,   sig.  R  4 
verso,  col.  1).      Cf.  Skeat's  confused  statement  on  the 
matter  (I.e.,  p.  490). 


116  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  Egli  era  grande  e  bel  della  persona 
Giovane  fresco  e  piacevole  assai, 
E  forte  e  fier  siccome  si  ragiona, 
E  parlante  quant'  altro  Greco  mai," l 

by  hints  drawn  from  Chaucer's  other 
authorities.  The  lines  in  Benoit's  descrip- 
tion of  Diomedes, — 

"  Groz  et  quarrez  et  granz  adds,"  2 
"  Molt  par  f u  hardiz  et  veisos,"  3 

1  Fil.,  VI.  33, 1-4 ;  cf .  with  1. 4,  R.  de  T.,  5198-5199 :  — 
"  Mes  de  parole  esteit  noisos 

E  molt  esteit  fox  sorparlez," 

and  quotation  from  Guido  on  p.  118.  On  defective  lines 
in  T.  and  C.,  V.  799-840,  W.  S.  McCormick,  I.e.,  p.  543. 

*R.  de  T.,  5194.  But  Chaucer  may  have  gone  back 
to  Benoit's  original,  which  offers  a  closer  analogue  to  his 
own  expression,  "quadratum  corpore"  (Dares,  16,  19- 
20),  which,  however,  may  be  better  compared  with  the 
phrase  in  the  description  of  Ajax,  "  quadratum  valentibus 
membris"  (Dares,  16,  14-15),  which  Benoit  renders 
(R.  de  T7.,  5161-5162):  — 

"  Aiaus  fu  gros  et  quarrez 

De  piz,  de  braz  et  de  costez." 
Cf .  Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  Iviii. ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  pp.  17,  26-27. 
*R.  de  !T.,  5197. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLOGNE  117 

show  at  once  the  source  of  two  of  the 
details  in  the  English  poem.  In  another 
passage  in  the  Roman  de  Troie,  Achilles 
thus  characterizes  Diomedes  in  addressing 
him,  — 

"  Sire,  gie  ne  me  merveil  mie 

Se  vos  amez  chevalerie 

Si  fetes  vos,  ne  poez  plus 

Mar  fussiez  vos  filz  Tideus. 

Se  par  vos  n'ert  toustans  meintenue  ; " 1 

"  Or  estes  garni  et  prest 
De  fere  autretel,"  2 

and   the  hints  borrowed   thence  by  Chau- 
cer  are   too  apparent  to   further 
The  term  "testif "  would  state 


ther   specify.         \j 
te  in  a  word     \f- 

lia  "    ll  n'psf.   Kian 


1 R.  de  T7.,  19747-19751  ed.  "  chevalelie,"  "  n'est  bien 
meintenue  " ;  but  cf .  L.  Constans,  Roman  de  Thebes,  vol. 
II.  p.  cxvi.  2. 

*R.  de  T.,  19764-19765.  This  passage  is  in  the 
account  of  the  embassy  of  Ulysses,  Nestor,  and  Diomedes 
to  persuade  Achilles,  who  refrains  from  the  war  on 
account  of  his  love  for  Polyxena,  to  come  to  the  aid  of 
the  Greeks  in  their  distress,  but  their  prayers  and  re- 
proaches are  in  vain,  Guido's  account  is  very  much 
abridged  (R.  de  T.,  19395-19779;  Historia,  sig.  k  5 


118  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Guide's  description  of  an  unpleasant  feature 
in  the  personality  of  the  Greek  hero :  — 

"  servientium  sibi  mmis  impatiens  cum  molestus 
servientibus  nimis  esset."1 

The  visit  of  Diomedes  to  the  tent  of 
Calchas  to  woo  Criseyde  is  found  only  in 
the  Filostrato,  but  his  action  at  parting,  — 

"  And  after  this,  the  sothe  for  to  seyn, 
Hir  glove  he  took  of  which  he  was  ful  fayn,"2 

is  transposed  from  its  proper  place  in 
Chaucer's  two  other  sources,  where  the 
same  incident  occurs,  when  Diomedes 
leaves  the  heroine  at  her  father's  camp.3 
And  it  is  to  the  lines  of  Benoit, — 

verso,  col.  2  to  k.  6  recto  col.  2).  Cf.  "  in  his  nedes,"  with 
T.  and  C.,  III.  1772.  "In  alle  nedes"  =  Fil.  III.  90,  1, 
"  NelPopere  opportune." 

1  Historic  sig.  e  2  recto,  col.  1;    cf.   Dares,   16,  20, 
"  impatientem."    For  the  detail  "  with  sterne  voys,"  there 
is  no  equivalent  in  either  the  French  or  Latin  texts,  but 
the  same  characterization  may  have  been  applied  to  a  dif- 
ferent feature.     Cf.  R.  de  T.,  5195,  "La  chiere  avoit  molt 
felonesse."    Historia,  I.e.,  "aspectu  ferox." 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1012-1013.  *  Cf.  p.  113. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  119 

"  Un  de  ses  ganz  li  a  toleit 
Que  nus  nel  seit  ne  perceit 
Molt  s'en  fait  liez," l 

rather  than  to  Guide's  paraphrase,  — 

"unam  de  cirothecis  quam  Brisaida  gerebat  in 
manu  ab  ea  nullo  percipiente  furtive  subtraxit,"  2 

that  this  touch  is  due.     Again,  when  Chau- 
cer writes,  — 

"  And  after  this  the  story  telleth  us 
That  she  him  yaf  the  faire  baye  stede, 
The  which  she  ones  wan  of  Troilus,"  3 

he  makes  statements  of   facts,  for  which 

1  R.  de  T.,  13673-13675. 

2  Historia,  sig.  i  2  verso,  col.  2 ;   cf .  Skeat,  Z.c.,  pp. 
lix.,  499 ;  Broatch,  Z.c.,  p.  18.     Yet  in  the  phrase  which 
directly  precedes,  there  is  perhaps  the  hint  —  not  found 
in  Benoit  —  for  a  couple  of  lines  of  Chaucer :  — 

"  Quare  associavit  earn  usque  ad  locum  quo  Bresaida 
recipere  in  sui  patris  tentoria  se  debebat,  et  ea  perveniente 
ibidem  ipse  earn  ab  equo  descendens  prouiptus  adivit." 

Cf.  T.  and  C.,  V.  181-182,  189:  — 

"  For  wan  she  gan  hir  fader  for  aspeye, 

Wei  neigh  doun  of  hir  hors  she  gan  to  sye." 
"And  from  her  hors  she  alighte." 
8  T.  and  C.,  V.  1037-1039.     In  1039, 1  accept  Thynne's 
reading  "she"  in  preference  to  "he"  of  all  the  manu- 


120  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Benoit  was  the  sole  authority;1  and  if  in 
the  following  lines, — 

"  And  eek  a  broche  (and  that  was  litel  nede) 
That  Troilus  was,  she  yaf  this  Diomede,"  2 

scripts  (cf.  Skeat,  I.e.  pp.  499,  Ixxiii.),  as  it  accords 
with  a  statement  in  Benoit's  account  of  his  heroine's 
loan  of  the  horse  to  Diomedes  (R.  de  T.,  15009-15014)  :  — 

"  Un  jor  iert  ale  preier 
Qu'ele  remirot  le  destrier 
Qui  Troylus  avoit  este 
L'en  li  ot  bien  dit  et  conte 
Qu'a  sa  mie  en  esteit  presenz 
Iriez  en  iert  et  molt  dolenz." 

Cf.  Works  of  Chaucer,  ed.  Bell,  vol.  VI.  p.  23.  Reading 
"he,"  the  line  would  allude  to  another  passage  in  the 
O.F.  poem,  which  was  rendered  in  Guide's  work,  recount- 
ing the  capture  of  the  horse  of  Troilus,  by  Diomedes, 
who  had  unseated  its  rider,  and  its  presentation  to  the 
heroine,  —  an  act  of  courtesy  often  mentioned  in  ro- 
mances, R.  de  T.,  14238-14303;  cf.  L.  Constans,  Les 
MSS.  du  Roman  de  Troie,  in  Etudes  romanes  dediees  a 
G.  Paris,  p.  214 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  4  recto,  col.  1 ;  cf.  Buev. 
de  Com.,  2661  ff.;  R.  de  Thebes,  4363  ff. ;  Saisnes,  vol.  L 
pp.  122,  126 ;  Perceval,  6887  ff. ;  Fergus,  4972  ff. 

1  R.  de  T.,  15009-15054 ;  cf.  Skeat,  I.e.,  pp.  499,  Ixxx. ; 
Broatch,  I.e.,  pp.  18-19,  25. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1040-1041 ;  cf.  Skeat  (I.e.,  p.  503),  who 
does  not  find  incident  in  Guido. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLOGNE  121 

he  adopts  Boccaccio's  setting  of  the  same 
incident,  in  the  Filostrato?  it  was  to  the 
O.F.  poem  that  he  had  to  have  recourse2 
when  he  continues  with :  — 

1  Fil.,  VIII.  8,  9-10 ;  T.  and  C.,  V.  1658-1678 ;  cf.  T. 
andC.,  III.  1370-1372:  — 

"  But  wel  I  woot  a  broche,  gold  and  asure, 
In  whiche  a  ruby  set  was  lyk  an  herte, 
Criseyde  him  yaf,  and  stak  it  on  his  sherte," 

where  Chaucer  introduces  a  new  detail  in  his  story,  by 
attributing  to  Criseyde  an  action  at  an  early  period  in 
her  connection  with  Troilus,  which,  following  Boccaccio, 
he  has  attributed  to  the  hero  at  the  time  of  their  part- 
ing. Again,  Chaucer  had  no  precedent  in  any  of  his 
sources  when  he  attributes  to  the  lovers  a  common  cus- 
tom (T.  and  C.,  III.  1368-1369  ;  cf.  P.  Meyer;  Girart  de 
Roussillon,  p.  18,  n.  1 ;  Godefroi  de  Bouillon,  15,  553),  — 

"  And  pleyinge  entrechaungeden  hir  ringes 
Of  which  I  can  nought  tellen  no  scripture," 

or  when  Criseyde  says  to  Pandarus  (T.  and  C.,  III. 
885):  — 

"  Have  here,  and  bereth  him  this  blewe  ring." 

2  R.  de  T7.,  15102-15104:.  Seeing  this  on  the  lance  of 
Diomedes  (15576-15577),  Troilus  may  know  that  he  is 
forgotten  by  his  beloved  (15109-15112) ;  furnishing  the 


122  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  And  eek,  the  bet  from  sorwe  him  to  releve, 
She  made  him  were  a  pencel  of  hir  sieve.''1 

And  while  there  is  reference  to  more  than 
one  authority  in  the  lines;  — 

"  I  finde  eek  in  the  stories  elles-where, 
Whan  through  the  body  hurt  was  Diomede 
Of  Troilus,  tho  weep  she  many  a  tere, 
Whan  that  she  saugh  his  wyde  woundes  blede ; 
And  that  she  took  to  kepen  him  good  hede,  "2 

there  are  details  mentioned  which  are  only 
found  in  the  French  romance.  Thus  Guido's 
phrase,  — 

"ipsum  (i.e.  Diomedes)  precipitem  dejecit  ab 
equo  et  mortaliter  vulneravit,"  3 

same  motive  as  is  supplied  by  the  brooch  in  Boccaccio 
which  Chaucer  made  use  of.  (Cf.  note,  p.  121,  n.  1).  For 
custom,  cf.  R.  de  Thebes,  4455,  8963;  R.  d' Alexandra,  401, 
7;  Eneas,  9331:  Octavian,  2694,  3405;  Anseis,  2002,  3634, 
4719,  5000 ;  Rom,  vol.  IV.  p.  30 ;  Jahr.  f.  rom.  u.  engl. 
Lit.,  vol.  IX.  p.  34;  Auberi,  74, 18;  78,  13;  Perceval,  6866. 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1042-1043 ;    cf.  Skeat.,  I.e.,  pp.  499, 
Ixxx. ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  24. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1044-1048. 

8  Historia,  sig.  k  6  verso,  col.  2. 


TO  GUIDO  BELLE  COLONNE  123 

omits  the  specific  statement  found  in  the 
passage  of  the  Roman  de  Troie,  of  which 
Chaucer  has  made  use  in  the  above  lines,  — 

"  Come  il  navra  Diomedes 
Parmi  le  cors  de  plein  esles," 1 

just  as  in  Troilus's  vow  that  if  he  meets 
his  successful  rival, — 

"  trewely,  if  I  have  might  and  space 
Yet  shall  I  make,  I  hope,  his  sydes  blede,"* 

there  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  fuller  de- 
scription elsewhere  in  Benoit:  — 

"  Ala  f erir  Diomedes 
D'une  lance  grosse  et  poignal 
Si  que  Fenseigne  de  cendal 
Li  remest  parmi  les  costez."^ 

Nor  is  there  a  suggestion  in  the  Latin  of 
the  French  lines,  — 

"  Mes  n'en  puet  pas  son  cuer  covrir 
Que  plor,  e  lermes,  et  sospir 

1R.  de  T.,  545-546;  cf.  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  25. 

*  T.  and  C.,  V.  1704-1705.          *R.  de  T.,  20066-20069. 


124  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

N'issent  de  li  a  negun  fuer 
•         ••••• 

E  ele  en  plore  o  les  deus  ielz," l 

as  there  is  in  the  English  poem. 

And,  again,  the  reason  of  the  change  of 
number  to  the  singular  is  apparent  when 
Chaucer  writes,  — 

"  But  trewely  the  story  telleth  us, 
Ther  made  never  womman  more  wo 
Than  she,  whan  that  she  falsed  Troilus,"2 

as  the  soliloquy  which  follows  is  a  some- 
what close  version  of  a  passage  in  the 
Roman  de  Troief  of  which  Guido  has  only 

1  R.  de  T.,  20197-20199,  20213.     On  form  ielz,  ueuz, 
cf.  Constans.,  I.e.,  p.  47 ;  ]St  ded.  a  G.  Paris,  p.  224,  n. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1051-1053. 

3  R.  de  T.,  20227-20330 ;  T.  and  C.,  V.  1054-1085;  cf. 
esp.   R.  de    T.,   20228-20229,  20233-20234  (cf.   20255), 
20245-20252  (cf.  20665-20669),  20265-20268  (cf.  20310, 
20317-20329),  20269-20274,  20308,  20277-20280,  20234; 
T.  and  C.,  1058-1060,  1056-1057,  1061-1066,  1068-1071, 
1072-1074,  1026-1027,  1734.     Cf .  Hertzberg,  l.c.,  p.  204, 
Skeat,  I.e.,  p.  500 ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  p.  24. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  125 

a  short  summary/  and  which  was  entirely 
omitted  by  Boccaccio. 

If  the  English  poet,  after  telling  of  her 
final  decision  to  return  the  love  of  Dio- 
medes,  declares, — 

"  Ne  me  ne  list  this  sely  wornman  chyde 
Ferther  than  the  story  wol  devyse. 
Hir  name,  alias  !  is  publisshed  so  wyde, 
That  for  hir  gilt  it  oughte  y-now  suffyse. 
And  if  I  mighte  excuse  hir  any  wyse, 
For  she  so  sorry  was  for  hir  untrouthe, 
Y-wis,  I  wolde  excuse  hir  yet  for  routhe,"2 

as  in  an  earlier  passage  he  writes,  — 

"Tor  how  Criseyde  Troilus  forsook, 
Or  at  the  leste,  how  that  she  was  unkinde, 
Mot  hennes-forth  ben  matere  of  my  book, 
As  wry  ten  folk  thorugh  which  it  is  in  minde. 
Alias  !  that  they  shulde  ever  cause  finde 
To  speke  hir  harm  ;  and  if  they  on  hir  lye, 
Y-wis,  hemself  sholde  han  the  vilanye,"  3 

1  Historia,  sig.  1 1  recto,  col.  1. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V,  1093-1099,  *  find.,  IV.  15-21. 


126  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

in  the  first  of  these  passages  there   is   a 
A  veiled  allusion,  as  in  the  second  a  direct 
y'/  ff  reference,   to   the    slighting   comments   of 
s/\^    Guido  upon  the  actions  of  the  heroine  in 
f    V       particular,1  as  well  as  upon  the  falsity  of 
womankind  in  general,  which  in  his  char- 
acter of  a  woman-hater  he  brings  in  through- 
out his  work. 

While,  in  the  Filostrato,2  Cassandra,  who 
has  heard  from  Deiphobus  the  cause  of  the 
evil  plight  of  Troilus  which  he  had  acci- 
dentally discovered,  comes  to  persuade  the 
latter  to  forget  the  faithless  low-born 
daughter  of  Calchas,  in  the  Troilus3  the 
hero  sends  for  her  as  a  seer  to  interpret 
his  dream,  —  to  which  in  the  Italian  poem 

1  Historia,  sig.  i  2  recto,  col.  2 ;    13  recto,  col.  2 ;  1 
1  recto,  col  1 ;  yet  for  the  general  statements  Guido  found 
his  material  in  the  R.  de  T.  (cf.  13412-13465,  14968- 
14982).     Lydgate  bitterly  reproaches  Guido  for  his  mis- 
ogyny =  Troy-book,  sig.  d  1  verso,  col.  2 ;  Hertzberg,  I.e., 
185 ;  Danger,  I.e.,  p.  62,  n.     Morf .,  Rom,  vol.  XXI.  p.  92. 

2  Fil.,  VII.  77-87.          8  T.  and  C.,  V.  1443-1526. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  127 

he  himself  has  given  the  same  meaning/  — 
and  in  introducing  this  new  motive,  Chau- 
cer has  been  unquestionably  influenced  by 
the  prominent  part  which  this  daughter  of 
Priam's  plays  in  the  mediaeval  Troy  legend, 
and  from  which,  as  it  has  been  noticed, 
he  took  the  cue  in  other  poems.2  Chaucer's 
indebtedness  for  different  details  in  his  few 
lines  upon  Hector's  death,  to  both  his 
French  and  Latin  sources,  has  already  been 
noted.  And  again,  in  the  lines  that  tell  of 
the  grief  which  it  caused,  — 

"  For  whom,  as  olde  bokes  tellen  us 
Was  maad  swich  wo,  that  tonge  it  may  not  telle, 
And  namely,  the  sorwe  of  Troilus,"3 

it  is  to  be  noticed  that  he  has  supplemented 
Boccaccio's  general  statement,  — 


7.,  VII.  27;  T.andC.,V.  1513-1519.  Itmaybe  noted 
that,  as  in  the  Filostrato  (VII.  88),  Troilus  supposes  that 
his  sister  gained  her  knowledge  through  divination,  his 
reproach  of  her  incompetence  (VII.  89-90)  is  made  use 
of  by  Chaucer  (T.  and  C.,  V.  1520-1529). 

2  Cf.  pp.  62-63.  8  T.  and  C.,  V.  1562-1564. 


128  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

"  L'  alto  dolor,  da  non  poter  mai  dire,1 
Che  1  padre,  ed  egli  e'  fratei  per  la  morte 
Ebber  d'  Ettor,"2 

by  a  specific  detail  of  which  the  source  is 
in  Benoit's  lines, — 

"  Molt  le  regrete  Troylus 
Car  riens  soz  ciel  n'amot  il  plus."  3 

Again,  the  lines,  — 

"  In  many  cruel  batayle,  out  of  drede, 
Of  Troilus,  this  ilke  noble  knight, 
As  men  may  in  these  olde  bokes  rede, 
Was  sene  his  knighthod  and  his  grete  might. 

1  Cf.  R.  de  T.9  16305-16307  :  — 

"  Lk  est  li  dols  si  angoisseos 
Si  pesmes  et  si  dolereos 
Que  nel  porreit  riens  raconter." 
Gest  Historale,  8717 :  — 

"  Hit  were  tore  any  tunge  tell  hit  with  mouthe." 

2  Ftt.,  VIII.  1,  3-5. 

8  R.  de  T.,  16351-16352.  The  grief  of  Paris  is  there, 
however, "  namely  "  set  forth,  1 6323-16350.  Guido  merely 
has  (Historia,  sig.  i  6  recto,  col.  2)  :  — 

Sic  et  dolentes  fratres  ejusdem  dolores  casu  universa- 
liter  torquebantur. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  129 

And  dredelees,  his  ire,  day  and  night, 

Ful  cruelly  the  Grekes  ay  aboughte," l 

I 
for  which  the  Filostrato  only  offers  a  single 

parallel  line,  — 

"  Nelle  battaglie  Troilo  sempre  entrava,"  2 

allude  to  the  combats  in  which  Troilus 
was  preeminent  after  the  death  of  Hector, 
which  are  fully  described  by  both  Benoit3 
and  Guido.4 

1  T.  and   C.,  V.  1751-1756.      On    phrase    "his    ire 
aboughte"  cf.,  pp.  66,  n.  2,  and  Fil.,VIII,  27,  1-2=  T. 
andC.,V.  1800-1801:  — 

"  L'  ira  di  Troilo  in  tempi  diversi 
A  Greci  nocque  molto  senza  fallo." 

2  Fil.,  VIH.  25,  7. 

*R.  de  T.,  19153-19174,  19350-19355,  19994-20021, 
20123-20139,  20454-20464,  20529-20534,  20560-20564, 
20820-20828,  21174-21175. 

4  Historia,  sig.  k  5  verso,  col.  1-1  2  verso,  col.  2 ;  Guide's 
phrase  (Historia,  sig.  i  5  verso,  col.  1),  in  the  account  of 
the  combat  in  which  Troilus  and  Diomedes  would  have 
killed  each  other  if  Menelaus  had  not  interfered,  — 

"  se  graviter  impetunt  in  duris  ictibus  lancearum," 
is  nearer  Chaucer's   "Assayinge  how  hir  speres  weren 
whette"  (T.  and  C.,  V.  1760),  than  Boccaccio's,— 


130  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Chaucer's  account  of  Troilus's  death  is 
summed  up  in  one  line,  — 

"Dispitously  him  slough  the  fiers  Achille,"1 

"  E  di  gran  colpi  f ra  lor  si  donaro, 
Talvolta,  urtando  e  talor  nelle  mani 
Le  spade  avendo  "  (Fil.  VIII.  26,  3-5), 

which  seems  to  have  its  source  in  the  R.  de  T.y  15588- 

15591,— 

"  A  f erir  d'espee  et  de  lance 
Tel  geu  voleient  comencier 
O  les  clers  trenchanz  branz  d'acier 
De  quei  les  testes  lor  seign assent," 

of  which  the  last  line  seems  to  suggest  Chaucer's  (T.  and 
C.,  V.  1762)  lines :  — 

"And  god  it  woot,  with  many  a  cruel  hete, 
Gati  Troilus  upon  his  helm  to  bete." 

Chaucer's  line,  T.  and  C.,  V.  1802,  "  For  thousandes  his 
hondes  maden  deye"  is  a  modification  of  Boccaccio's 
(Fil.,  VIII.  28,  7)  "  Avendone  gia  morti  piu  di  mille," 
for  which  Guido  (Historia,  sig.  k  6  verso,  col.  1),  "  Scripsit 
enim  Dares  quod  illo  die  mille  milites  interfecit  ex 
Grecis,"  gave  the  information.  Cf.  Dares,  ed.  Meister, 
p.  xlvi.  The  same  feat  is  attributed  to  Hector,  R.  de  T., 
9957-9958 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  4  recto,  col.  1.  Cf .  Skeat,  I.e., 
p.  Ix. ;  Broatch,  I.e.,  pp.  19-20. 
1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1806. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  131 

a  translation  of  his  Italian  original,  — 
"  Miseramente  un  di  T  uccise  Achille," 1 

but  there  is  a  suggestion  of  the  manner  of 
his  death  in  an  imprecation,  not  found  in 
the  Filostrato?  which  the  hero  calls  down 
on  himself,  if  he  should  ever  be  ungrateful   W 
to  Pandarus  for  his  services :  — 

"  And,  if  I  lye,  Achilles  with  his  spere 
Myn  herte  cleve."  3 

Now  in  the  narrative, of  both  Benoit4  and 
Guido,5  Achilles  is  represented  as  slaying 
Troilus  by  cutting  off  his  head,  but,  in  one 
version  of  a  Middle  English  summary  of  a 
part  of  the  Roman  de  Troie,  there  is  evi- 
dence collateral  with  that  given  in  Chaucer, 
of  the  tradition  according  to  which  Achilles 
pierces  his  Trojan  opponent  with  a  spear  — 
a  point  brought  out  in  the  Troilus  of 

1  FiL,  VIII.  27,  8.  2  Fil.,  III.  15. 

8  T.  and  <?.,  III.  374-375. 

4  R.  de  T.,  21415-21416. 

5  Historia,  sig.  1  2  verso,  col.  2. 


132  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Sophocles,1  and  in  vase  paintings  which 
departed  from  the  more  common  version 
to  follow  that  of  the  Greek  tragedian.2  In 
the  Seege  of  Troye,  as  it  appears  in  MS. 
Harl.  525,  it  is  stated  that  Achilles,  after 
a  long  fight  with  swords, 

"  Smote  Sir  Troyell  to  J>e  herte 
Even  ato  his  body  he  deled."3 

If  the  first  of  these  lines  is  anything 
more  than  a  mere  conventional  phrase,  its 
coincidence  with  Chaucer's  statement  is 
striking ;  but  only  after  the  publication  of 

1  Schol.,  in  Iliad,  XXIV.  257,  as  amended  by  F.  G. 
Welcker,  Zeit.f.  Alterthumsw.,  1834,  No.   3,   p.   30;   Die 
griechischen    Tragodien    mil  Rucksicht    auf  den  epischen 
Cyclus.,  1839,  vol.  I.  p.  124;  Eustathius,  in  11,  XXIV. 
257.     Cf.  W.  Klein,  Euphronios,  1878,  p.  77,  n.  2. 

2  Welcker,  I.e.,    vol.    I.   pp.    124-129;   J.   Overbeck, 
Die  Bildwerke  zum  ihebischen  und  troischen  Heldenkreis. 
1853,  p.  338;   Klein,  l.c.,  p.  85;   Zuckenbach,  in  Johns 
Jahr.  SuppL,  vol.  XI.  pp.  610-612;  cf.  603,  605,  609 ;  A. 
Baumeister,  Denkmaler  der  classischen  Alterihum,  p.  1902. 

8  The  Seege  of  Troye,  etc.,  w.  1528-1529 ;  cf .  pp. 
xxxi.-xl. ;  Granz,  Seege  of  Troye,  etc.,  p.  51. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  133 

a  critical  edition  of  the  Roman  de  Troie 
can  we  be  assured  that  the  two  English 
writers  found  in  their  original  a  suggestion 
for  the  change  of  detail. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  every  time  "  myn 
auctor"  is  referred  to  on  a  specific  point, 
the  Filostrato  is  meant/  and  if  a  sonnet  of 
Petrarch/  given  in  a  translation 3  in  which 
"nought  only  the  sentence"  but  " every 
word"  has  its  equivalent,  is  attributed 
to  "  myn  auctor  Lollius,"  4  the  other  refer- 
ence to  that  author  is  upon  a  detail  only 
found  in  the  work  of  Boccaccio.5  Again,  in 

1  T.  and  C.,  II.  699-791  =  FiL,  II.  69-75;  T.  and  C.,  III. 
501-504  =  FU.9  III.  3, 4-5 ;  T.  and  C.,  III.  575-578, 568-570 
=  Fil.,  III.  21,  4-8 ;  T.  and  C.,  III.  1195-1197,  cf .  FiL,  III. 
31, 1-3 ;  T.  and  C.,  III.  1324-1327  (where  Chaucer  states 
that  "  thogh  I  can  not  tellen  al,  as  can  myn  auctor,"  after 
he  has  taken  126  lines  to  enlarge  upon  the  substance  of 
21  lines  in  the  Italian  poem,  T.  and  C.,  III.  1198-1323 ; 
cf.  Fil.,  III.  31-33)  ;  T.  and  C.,  1814-1817  =  Fil.,  IV.  24, 
1-3.  2  Sonn.,  88.  8  T.  and  C.,  I.  400-420. 

4  T.  and  C.,  I.  393-399. 

5  T.  and  C.,  Y.  1653-1673  =  Fil.,  VIII.  8-10;  cf.  p. 
121. 


134  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

speaking   of  his  poem  as  a  whole,  Chau- 
cer only  mentions    "myn  auctor"   as  his 
authority/  and  three   times   he   makes  an 
indirect  reference  to  the  Italian  poem.2 
When  Chaucer  states  that 

"  Criseyde  was  this  lady  name  a-right,"  3 

he  accepts  the  authority  of  the  statement 
of  Boccaccio, — 

"  Griseida  nomata,"  4 

1  T.  and  C.,  I.  260-266,  II.  18,  49. 

2  T.  and  C.,  1. 492-497  =  FU.,  1. 48 ;  T.  and  C.,  II.  1219- 
1225  =  FU.9  II.  125-127;   T.  and  C.,  V.  1758-1764  =  FU., 
VIII.  26.  3  T.  and  C.,  I.  99. 

4  FiL, 1.  11,  6.  Chaucer  seems  to  emphasize  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  change  of  the  name  made  by  Boccaccio, 
under  the  influence  of  classical  authorities,  in  which  the 
daughter  of  the  priest  Chryses  plays  such  a  prominent 
part  as  the  captive  of  Achilles  (cf.  L.  Constans  in  Hist, 
de  la  langue  et  lit.  francaise,  vol.  I.  p.  209,  n. ;  Hertzberg, 
I.e.,  p.  197),  without  supposing  the  additional  reason 
that  "Boccaccio  wollte  die  Chriseis  als  die  Goldige 
gedeutet  werden"  (Hertzberg,  I.e.,  p.  197,  accepted  by 
Koerting,  Boccaccio,  p.  591).  Criseida  and  Griseida 
appeared  as  the  same  form  in  the  text  of  the  Italian 
poem,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  both  appear  in  MSS. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  135 

rejecting  the  name  "  Brisaida,"  "  Briseida," 
given  by  the  French  and  Latin  writers/ 
although  he  modified  the  spelling  in  later 
poems  to  "  Creseyde." 2 

Once  he  refers  to  a  detail  in  his  story, 
which  "  writen  is  in  geste," 3  and  this 
proves  to  be  the  Filostrato ;  and  again, 
when  he  states  that  he  is  narrating  the 
action  of  his  heroine, — 

"  as  writen  clerkes  in  hir  bokes  old," 

of  Guido,  where  the  copyists  have  substituted  "  Criseida  " 
for  "Briseida,"  the  form  in  the  original  text.  (Morf, 
Rom,  vol.  XXI.  p.  101,  n. ;  cf .  Moland  et  d'Hericault, 
I.e.,  p.  cxxxv. ;  Mussafia,  I.e.,  pp.  496-497;  Hertzberg,  I.e., 
p.  197.) 

1  R.  de  T.,  12956 ;  Historia,  sig.  i  1.  recto,  col.  2. 

2  Against  Women  Unconstant,  16;   L.  of  G.   W.,  332, 
441,  469 ;  cf.  H.  of  P.,  397-398 :  — 

"  Eek  lo !  how  f als  and  reccheles 
Was  to  Briseida  Achilles," 

where  the  English  poet  took  the  classic  accusative  form 
as  it  appeared  in  Ovid  (Heroides,  III.  137),  while  in 
C.  T.,  B,  71,  he  gives  a  form,  probably  of  his  own  mak- 
ing, «  Brixseyde  " ;  cf .  Her.,  III.  1,  "  Briseide." 

8  T.  and  C.,  III.  450  =  Fil.,  HI.  3,  6.     A  satisfactory 


136  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

he  is  merely  translating  a  passage  from 
the  Italian  poem/  which  has  no  parallel 
in  the  other  sources. 

explanation  has  not  been  offered  as  to  what  particular 
form  of  narrative  is  meant  by  "in  geste"  in  the  lines 
(C.  T.,  B,  2122-2124):  — 

"  Sir,  at  o  word,  thou  shalt  no  lenger  ryme, 
Let  see  wher  thou  canst  tellen  aught  in  geste, 
Or  telle  in  prose  somwhat  at  the  leste." 

Elsewhere  the  word,  in  its  meaning  of  "  narrative,"  refers 
indifferently  to  authorities  in  Latin  verse  or  prose 
(P.  ofR,  1515;  L.  of  G.  W.,  A,  87;  T.  and  C.,  II.  83,  Y. 
1511;  C.  T.,  B,  1126,  D,  642).  Gower  applies  it  to 
the  T.  and  C.  (Mirour  de  Vomme,  5253)  :  — 

"  U  qu'il  oit  chanter  la  geste 
De  Troylus  et  de  la  belle 
Creseide." 

IT.   and   C.,    III.    1199  =  m,    111,32;    cf.    p.    7; 
T.  and  C.,  V.  1478-1479:  — 

"  Of  which,  as  olde  bokes  tellen  us 
Ther  roos  a  contek  and  a  great  envye," 

where  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  alone  is    referred    to  (cf. 

p.  96);  and  again,  B.  of  D.,  52-55:  — 

"  And  in  this  boke  were  writen  fables 
That  clerkes  hadde,  in  olde  tyme 
And  other  poets  put  in  ryme, 
To  rede,  and  for  to  be  in  minde." 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  137 

Once  he  refers  to  "the  story"  for  a 
detail  only  found  in  Benoit ;  *  and  again 2 
he  calls  attention  to  the  same  source  as 
the  authority  for  a  passage  which  was 
necessarily  dependent  upon  the  Roman  de 
Troie,  except  for  a  detail,  the  hint  for 
which  he  adopted  from  the  Filostrato?  In 
translating  the  Italian,  — 

"  NelP  opere  opportune  alia  lor  guerra 
Egli  era  sempre  nell'  armi  il  primiero 
Che  sopra'  Greei  uscia  fuor  della  terra, 
Tanto  animoso,  et  si  forte  e  si  fiero 
Che  ciascun  ne  dottava,  se  no  erra 
La  storia,"  4 

he  adds  a  detail  from  Benoit/  and  mentions 
more  than  the  one  authority  cited  by  Boc- 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1051;  cf.  p.  124.  8  Cf.'  p.  120. 

2  Cf.  p.  119,  T.  and  C.,  V.  1037.  4  FiL,  III.  90. 
5  R.  de  T.,  5418-5420;  cf.  Constans,  I.e.  p.  63  :  — 

"  De  eels  de  Troie  li  plus  bials 
E  li  plus  prouz,  fors  que  sis  frere 
Hector." 

In  Guido  he  is  always  represented  as  the  equal  of  Hector. 

See  p.  76. 


138  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

caccio,    necessarily    including    his    Italian 
predecessor  as  one  of  his  sources :  — 

"  In  alle  nedes,  for  the  tounes  werre, 
He  was,  and  ay  the  firste  in  armes  dight ; 
And  certeynly,  but-if  that  bokes  erre, 
Save  Ector,  most  y-drad  of  any  wight." l 

The  description  of  Diomedes  is,  for  the 
most  part,  based  upon  that  given  in  the 
Roman  de  Troie,  with  the  addition  of  de- 
tails from  the  Filostrato,  and  possibly  a 
V  hint  from  Guido,2  and  here  Chaucer,  in 
speaking  of  his  authorities,  says  that  the 
"  bokes  us  declare,"3  and  "some  men  seyn."4 

Only  once,  in  his  description  of  Troilus, 
for  which  he  is  mainly  indebted  to  Guido's 
ork,  does  he  directly  refer  to  this  source, 
and  with  the  indefinite  term,  "  in  storie  it 

1  T.  and  C.,  III.  1772-1775.  2  Cf.  p.  115. 

8  T.  and  C.,  V.  799. 

4  T.  and  C.,  V.  804;  cf.  T.  and  C.,  I.  708.  "Men 
seyn,"  where  proverb  is  given,  which  the  "  Chanoun 
yeman,"  says  he,  "ones  lerned  of  a  clerk,"  C.  T.,  G, 
748;  cf.  T.  and  C.,  II.  1238. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  139 

is  y-founde."1  He  mentions  "  these  olde 
bokes " 2  as  his  authorities  for  passages  in 
which  he  has  expanded  a  line  or  two  in 
the  Filostrato,  by  a  statement  of  events 
for  which  he  found  a  detailed  account  in 
the  works  of  Benoit  and  Guido.3  If  in  a 
passage  in  which4  he  comments  upon  Cri- 
seyde's  actions,  the  facts  could  have  been 
furnished  by  all  of  his  three  sources/  the 
kindliness  of  his  reflections  upon  her  mo- 
tives would  on  this  point  exclude  the 
authority  of  Guido,  whom  the  English  poet 
elsewhere  in  the  poem  indirectly  rebukes 
for  his  harsh  opinion  of  the  heroine, — 

"  Alias !  that  they  shulde  ever  cause  finde 
To  speke  her  harm  ;  and  if  they  on  hir  lye, 
Y-wis,  hemself e  sholde  han  the  vilanye,"  6 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  834;  cf.    p.  76. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1562,  1753 ;  pp.  127-129.     On  «  olde 
bokes,"  cf.  pp.  135-136 ;  T.  and  C.,  V.  1481. 

8  Cf .  pp.  Ill,  127-129. 

4  T.  and  C.,  IV.  1415-1421 ;  cf.  V.  19-21 ;  cf.  pp.  111- 

112.  5  T.  and  C.,  IV.,  15-18 ;  cf .  p.  125. 

6  T.  and  C.,  IV.  19-21 ;  cf .  p.  8,  and  C.  T.,  F,  551,  «  as 


140  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

even  if  he  writes  as  if  he  alluded  to  more 
than  one  authority,  as  he  unquestionably 
does,  when  he  is  speaking  merely  of  the 
facts  of  the  story:  — 

"  Bisecliinge  every  lady  bright  of  hewe, 
And  every  gentil  womman,  what  she  be, 
That  al  be  that  Criseyde  was  untrewe, 
That  for  that  gilt  she  be  not  wrooth  with  me, 
Ye  may  hir  gilt  in  othere  bokes  see." l 

"  The  stories  "  are  the  source  mentioned 
for  a  passage  which  summarizes  a  long 
account  in  the  Roman  de  Troie  and  the 
Historia?  Twice  he  takes  care  to  mention 
that  certain  details  are  not  to  be  found  in 
his  authorities/  and  if  in  his  delineation  of 
the  character  of  the  heroine  he  writes,  — 

writen  folk,"  where  the  Biblical  narrative  seems  to  be 
referred  to. 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  1772-1776. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  1044 ;   cf.  p.  122 ;    T.  and  C.,  V.  1459, 
"old    stories  "  =  "  an tiche    storie,"   Fil,   Proemio,   p.   7, 
An.  and  Arc.,  "olde  storie,"  "storia  antica,"  Tes.,  I.  2. 

8  T.  and  C\  I.  132-133,  V.  1086-1092;  cf.  pp.  82  n.,  87. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONJSTE  141 

"  But  trewely,  I  can  not  telle  hir  age,"  l 

he  appears  to  fear  to  add  a  specific  detail, 
which  is  not  elsewhere  vouched  for.  Yet 
in  this  very  passage  occurs  a  bit  of  charac- 
terization which  is  referred  directly  to  the 
authority  of  those  "who  writen  that  her 
syen,"2  for  which  it  is  difficult  to  cite  what 
lay  be  a  parallel  in  any  of  the  sources.3 
Lgain,  in  an  episode  of  the  Troilus  which 
id  no  prototype  in  the  story  as  told  by 
the  predecessors  of  the  English  poet,  the 
gf erence  is  entirely  fictitious  in  the  lines  — 

"  But  whan  his  shame  gan  somwhat  to  passe 
His  resons,  as  I  may  my  rymes  holde, 
I  yow  wol  telle,  as  techen  bokes  olde."4 

He  unquestionably  refers  to  the  unnamed 
Italian  poem  as  his  main  authority,  and  if 
he  writes  of  his  own  poem  that 

"  Out  of  Latin  in  my  tonge  it  wryte,"  5 

1  T.  and  C.,  V.  826.          8  Cf.  p.  83  n. 

2  T.  and  C.,  V.  816.          4  T.  and  C.,  III.  89-91. 

6  T.  and  C.,  II.  1 


142  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

it  was  in  order  to  give  to  his  source  the 
dignity  that  he  wished  to  attribute  to  that 
of  Anelida  and  Arcite,  where,  in  making  a 
very  free  translation  of  a  passage  in  the 
Tesaide?  he  notes  his  intention, — 

"  in  English  for  tendyte 
This  olde  storie,  in  Latin  which  I  fynde,"2 

when,  in  fact,  he  is  only  using  the  words 
of  the  Italian  poem,  which  treats  of  some- 
thing else.3  And,  in  the  one  poem  he 
adopts  hints  from  the  Historia,  which  was 
the  Latin  source  of  the  Filostrato,  as  in 
the  other  he  translated  passages  from  Star 

iTes.,  1.2:  — 

"  Che  m'  e  venuta  voglia  com  pietosa 
Rima  di  scriver  una  storia  antica, 
Tanto  negli  anni  riposta  e  nascosa 
Che  latino  autor  non  par  ne  dica 
Per  quel  ch'  io  senta,  in  libro  alcuna  cosa." 

2  An.  and  Arc.,  9-10. 

8  Cf .  pp.  23-24 ;  ten  Brink,  Chaucer,  pp.  49,  53-56  ; 
Skeat,  Minor  Poems,  p.  311 ;  Koch.,  Eng.  Stud.,  vol.  XV. 
p.  399. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  143 

tius,1  in  whose  work  Boccaccio  found  sug- 
gestions for  the  story  of  the  Tesaide;  so 
that  he  may  have  felt  a  right  in  both  cases 
to  refer  to  the  Latin  sources  of  his  Italian 
originals  as  his  own.  It  is  to  mystify  his 
readers  once  more,  in  order  to  hide  the 
name  of  his  author,  that  he  introduces  the 
name  of  Lollius,  to  whom  he  attributed  a 
history  of  the  Trojan  war,2  by  a  misinter- 
pretation of  the  lines  of  Horace,8  which  he 
found  cited  in  the  Polycraticus 4  of  John  of 
Salisbury,  a  work  with  which  he  was  well 
acquainted.5  For  elsewhere  he  translates 
another  line  of  Horace,6  cited  in  the  same 

1  An.  and  Arc.,  22-48 ;  Thebias,  XII.  519  fE. ;  cf.  Skeat, 
Chaucer's  Minor  Poems,  pp.  Ixix.,  313. 
2^.0/^.1468;  cf.  p.  51. 
8  Ep.  1.  2, 1  fE. ;  cf.  pp.  38-40,  46. 

4  Polycr.,  VII.  9 ;  Migne,  Patrologia,  vol.  CXCIX.  vol. 
657.     This  passage  has  already  been  noted  by  W.  E.  A. 
Axon,  N.  and  Q.,  Ser.  9,  vol.  III.  p.  224. 

5  Cf .  W.  W.  Woolcombe  in  Essays  on  Chaucer,  pp.  293- 
306 ;  Lounsbury,  Studies  in  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  pp.  362-364. 

6  Ep.,  1.  10,  24  =  C.  T.,  H.  161. 


144  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

work,1  a  propos  of  the  matter  he  is  treating 
of,  again  he  refers  to  it  by  inference  as  an 
authority,2  and  quotes  from  it  a  number  of 
times  without  mentioning  his  source.3  In 
the  same  way  in  Anelida  and  Arcite,  where 
he  equally  avoids  mention  of  Boccaccio,  he 
avails  himself  of  the  name  of  Corinna,  a 
contemporary  of  Pindar,  who  had  been 
remembered  down  to  Chaucer's  day,  as 
the  author  of  a  work  upon  the  Theban 

1  Polycr.,  III.  8,  col.  489. 

2  C.  T.,  D.  1510-1511;   cf.  Polycr.,  II.  27,  col.  468; 
Woolcombe,  I.e.  p.  295. 

8  C.  T.,  C.  591,  595,  603,  621  =  Polycr.,  I.  5;  cols.  399- 
400.  On  "  Stilbon-Chilon,"  cf.  E.  Koeppel,  Anglia,  vol. 
XIII.  p.  183 ;  K.  O.  Petersen,  On  the  Sources  of  the  Nonne 
Prestes  Tale,  p.  100,  n.  C.  T.,  H.  226  ft.=Polycr.,  III.  14 ; 
cf .  Petersen,  I.e.  p.  114,  n.  1  (Alexander  and  the  pirate) ; 
possibly  C.,  538  &.  =  Polycr.,  VIII.  6,  col.  725;  cf.  Wool- 
combe,  I.e.  p.  296 ;  and  Former  Age,  33-40 =  Polycr.,  VIII. 
6,  col.  727 ;  cf .  Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  I.  p.  541.  On  C.  T., 
C.  517  ff.,  527  ff.,  cf.  Woolcombe,  I.e.  pp.  297-304;  Works 
of  Chaucer,  vol.  V.  pp.  278-279 ;  Lounsbury,  I.e.  pp.  364- 
372.  In  the  B.  of  D.,  663-664,  the  information  from  the 
Polycr.,  I.  5,  col.  399,  is  at  second  hand,  the  immediate 
source  being  the  Rom.  de  la  Rose,  7425  ff. 


TO  GUIDO  BELLE  COLONNE  145 

story,  making  her  with  Statins  the  joint 
authorities  of  his  poem/  the  source  of  a 
large  part  of  which  has  not  been  pointed 
out. 

When  he  introduces   into  his  narrative 

1  As  to  the  author  referred  to,  I  adopt  the  hint  given 
by  Tyrwhitt,  who  thinks  it  hardly  possible  that  Chaucer 
"had  met  with  that  poem  "  (Works  of  Chaucer,  p.  461). 
The  mere  statement  about  the  composition  of  the  work 
could  have  been  as  accessible  to  Chaucer  as  that  about 
Agathon,  to  whom  he  refers  in  another  poem  (L.  of  G. 
W.,  525-526 ;  cf.  Cary's  Dante,  note  to  Purg.,  XXII.  106; 
Bech.,  Anglia,  vol.  V.  p.  365 ;  Skeat,  Legend  of  Good 
Women,  pp.  xxiv.-xxvi.,  149)  in  some  mediaeval  encyclo- 
pedic work.  Constans  (Roman  de  Thebes,  vol.  II.  p.  clvii., 
n.  2),  who  does  not  know  of  Chaucer's  indebtedness  to 
Boccaccio  in  the  Anelida  and  Arcite,  unnecessarily  sug- 
gests that  Chaucer  may  have  been  acquainted  with  a 
Latin  translation  or  abridgment  of  Corinna's  poem, 
though  he  regards  it  as  more  probable  that  her  name,  as 
that  of  Lollius,  was  used  to  conceal  the  true  source. 
Hertzberg's  suggestion  (Jahr.  f.  rom.  und  engl.  Lit.,  vol. 
VIII.  p.  160;  Shah  Jahr.,  vol.  VI.  pp.  173-174;  cf.  Skeat, 
Chaucer's  Minor  Poems,  p.  312),  that  Corinnus,  a  historian 
of  the  Trojan  war  is  referred  to,  has  not  as  good  ground 
for  acceptance. 

2  An.  and  Arc.,  21 :  — 

"  First  follow  I  Stace,  and  after  him  Corinne." 


146  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

the  translation  of  a  sonnet  of  Petrarch, 
as  a  song  found  in  the  text  of  his  original, 
he  may  have  confused  the  two  Italian 
poets  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  authorship 
of  the  Filostrato  in  his  manuscript,  as  in 
that  used  by  the  French  translator,  was 
attributed  to  Petrarch ; 1  but  the  very  inno- 
vation rather  denotes  that  it  was  done  to 
sustain  the  mystery  with  which  he  wished 
to  surround  the  origin  of  his  poem,  and  to 
avoid  here,  or  elsewhere,  mention  of  Boc- 
caccio, who  has  been  his  most  important 
authority  throughout  all  his  works.2 

1  Cf.  pp.  32-33. 

2  In  the  Monkes  Tale  in  the  account  of  Zenobia,  for 
which  he  drew  the  material  from  Boccaccio's  De  Casibus 
Virorum  (VIII.  6)  and  De  Mulieribus  (ch.  xcviii.),  if  any 
reader  desires  details,  he  writes  (C.  T.,  B,  3515-3516) :—- 

"  Let  him  un-to  my  maister  Petrark  go, 
That  writ  y-nough  of  this  I  undertake." 

Tyrwhitt  (note  to  C.  T.,  14253,  Works  of  Chaucer,  p.  203) 
conjectured  that  "  Boccaccio's  book  had  fallen  into 
Chaucer's  hand  under  the  name  of  Petrarch." 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  147 

• 

He  nowhere  mentions  or  even  indirectly 
suggests 1  the  title  of  the  Filostrato  in  the 
Troilus,  while  in  the  Knightes  Tale?  having 
in  mind  the  symbolical  meaning  attributed 
to  the  name  by  Boccaccio,3  he  has  one  of 
his  characters  assume  it  instead  of  the  name 
found  in  the  Tesaide*  When  Chaucer  has 
been  at  so  much  pains  to  conceal  the  name, 
the  author,  and  the  language  of  the  work 
which  was  his  main  authority,  it  is  not  at  / 
all  surprising  that  he  does  not  cite  by  name  * 
Benoit  or  Guido.  To  them  he  merely  refers 

1  The  variant  of  T.  and  C.,  III.  503,  found  in  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  MS.,  1. 1, 

"  An  hondred  vers  of  which  hym  liste  nat  write," 
is  the  only  suggestion  of  the  metrical  structure  of  the 
original. 

2  C.  !T.,  A,  1428, "  Philostrato  he  seide  that  he  heighte." 
Cf.  1558,  1728. 

3  Cf.  p.  95  n. 

4  Tesaide,  IV.  3,  has  «  Pentheo."     It  is  to  be  noted 
that  certain  lines  of  the  Filostrato  that  are  translated  in 
the  Troilus  reappear  in  the  Knightes  Tale.     Cf.  C.  T.,  A, 
1010,  1101,  1163-1168;  T.  and  C.,  IV.  627;  I.  425;  IV. 
618. 


148  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

in  general  terms  as  authorities  for  incidents 
in  his  story  and  details  in  his  description 
of  the  characters,  not  found  in  his  Italian 
original.  From  their  narratives  he  also 
borrows,  without  notice,  material  for  the 
enlargement  of  his  own  story,  independent 
of  that  of  Boccaccio,  but  taken  from  the 
same  places  in  these  works,  to  which  the 
Italian  poet  had  resort.  The  suggestions 
taken  from  the  French  poem  or  its  Latin 
plagiary  —  and  often  it  is  a  word,  a  phrase, 
borrowed  from  one,  sometimes,  to  supple- 
ment the  statement  of  the  other  —  are  skil- 
fully introduced  into  the  main  texture  of 
the  story,  in  different  parts  of  the  Troilus.1 
Some  of  these  additions  form  an  essential 

1  In  the  same  way  Gower  inserts  details  taken  from 
Benoit  or  Guido  into  his  versions  of  incidents,  the  main 
body  of  which  is  borrowed  from  one  of  these  authors,  so 
that  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  decide  to  which  one  he 
refers  as  an  authority  in  the  phrases  "  cronique,"  "  the 
tale  of  Troie,"  "  bok  of  Troie."  Cf.  Traitie,  IX.  4 ;  Conf. 
Amant.,  III.  2641;  V.  3192;  I.  483;  V.  3244;  VII.  1559. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE  COLOGNE  149 

part  of  his  own  story,  as  lie  first  wrote  it ; 
others,  again,  are  changes  in  details  of  state- 
ments, taken  from  Boccaccio,  which  he 
made  in  revising  his  poem.1 

As   authorities   for    the    history   of    the       / 
Trojan   war,  he  mentions   Homer,  Dictys,  )P 
and  Dares,2  as  he  found  them  cited  in  the 
Roman  de  Troie  and  the  Historia  Trojana? 

1  As  is  shown  by  the  variant  readings  of  Harleian 
MS.  1239. 

2  Cf.  p.  12. 

8  Cf .  pp.  51  ff.    The  stanza  (V.  1786-1792), 

"  Go  litel  boke,  go  litel  myn  tragedye, 
Ther  God  thy  makere  yet  er  that  he  dye 
So  sende  myght  to  make  in  some  comedye 
But  litel  book  no  makynge  thow  nenvye, 
But  subgit  be  to  alle  poesye 
And  kys  the  steppes  where  as  thow  seest  space 
Virgile,  Ovyde,  Omer,  Lucan,  and  Stace," 

is  an  imitation  of  the  closing  lines  of  the  Thebaid  of 
Statius  (XII.  816-819), 

"  Vive,  precor ;  nee  tu  divinam  Aeneida  tempta, 
Sed  longe  sequere  et  vestigia  semper  adora. 
Mox,  tibi  si  quis  adhuc  praetendit  nubila  livor, 
Occidet,  et  meriti  post  me  referentur  honores." 

And  the  last  line  is  merely  a  variant  of  the  stock  formula, 


150  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

since  he  was  acquainted  with  only  the  work 
of  Dares  at  first  hand.  In  doing  this  he 
merely  follows  the  precedent  established  by 
mediaeval  writers,  according  to  which  the 
statements  of  a  translator  were  as  authori- 
tative as  those  of  his  original,  and  a  citation 
at  twentieth  hand  as  good  as  one  at  first 
hand.  He  refers  to  Dares  as  an  authority 
upon  the  warlike  exploits  of  Troilus, 
and  he  may  well  be  citing  here  at  first 
hand.1 

In  his  account  of  Hercules,  Chaucer  refers 
to  Guido  as  an  authority  under  the  name  of 
Trophee,2  a  translation  of  his  second  name 
"de  Columpnis." 3  For  the  fact  that  the 
"  columne  Herculis  "  was  set  up  as  a  token 

so  much  used  by  mediaeval  poets,  in  which  the  greatest 
writers  of  antiquity  are  grouped  together.  Cf.,  e.g., 
F.  Michel,  Tristan,  vol.  I.  p.  Ixv. ;  Romania,  vol.  XXV. 
p.  503 ;  Dante,  Inf.,  IV.  85  ff. 

1  On  Chaucer's  use  of  Dares,  cf .  pp.  59,  61,  n.  2,  75  n., 
82  n.,  130  n. 

2  Cf.  p.  55.  8  Cf.  H.  of  F.,  1469,  p.  51. 


TO  GUIDO  DELLE   COLONNE  151 

of  victory  —  a  trophaeum,  trophee1 —  is 
emphasized  by  the  author  of  the  Historia, 
in  the  passage  translated  by  the  English 
poet/  and  elsewhere.3  Chaucer  considers 
the  explanation  of  Melibee,  "that  is  to 
seyn,  a  man  that  drinketh  hony," 4  and  the 
absurd  etymologies  of  the  name  Cecilia5  as 
satisfactory,  and  so,  "  to  seye  in  English/' 
this  Latin  name,  makes  use  of  a  single 
word  which  at  once  deSnes  and  trans- 
lates it. 

1  Cf.  p.  37 ;  Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  p.  Ivi.,  n.  1. 

2  Cf.  pp.  55-57. 

8  Historia,  sig.  f  5  recto,  col.  1.  In  this  passage,  evi- 
dently as  a  comment  on  his  own  name,  Guido  speaks 
of  certain  so-called  "  Columne  Hereulis,"  situated  in  the 
southern  part  of  Italy,  which,  according  to  tradition,  were 
put  up  by  the  hero  in  commemoration  of  his  conquest 
there.  On  their  site,  according  to  Guido,  the  town  of 
Terranova  was  built  by  Frederick  II.  Cf.  Works  of 
Chaucer,  vol.  II.  p.  Ivi.,  n.  1 ;  Works  of  Gower,  ed. 
G.  C.  Macaulay,  vol.  II.  p.  501 ;  Torraca,  Studi  su  la  lirica 
italiana  del  Duecento,  pp.  412-416.  It  is  conceivable  that 
Chaucer  referred  to  these  columns,  which  he  may  have 
regarded  as  being  at  one  of  the  "  worldes  endes." 

*  C.  T.,  B,  2599.  5  C.  T.,  G,  85  ff. 


152  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

Lydgate  finding  Trophee  cited  by  Chaucer 
on  the  adventures  of  Hercules,  of  which 
Guido  gives  a  similar  account/  noticing 
that  the  treatment  of  the  story  of  Troilus  and 
Criseyde  in  the  English  poem  differs  from 
that  in  the  Historia?  supposes  Chaucer's 
source  for  both  .these  episodes  to  be  a 
work  in  Italian.3  He  himself  was  not 

1  In  Lydgate 's  translation  there  seems  to  be  reminis- 
cences of  the  lines  in  the  Monkes   Tale.     (Troy-book, 
sig.  B  6  recto,  col.   1;   cf.    Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  II. 
p.  Iv.) 

2  Cf.  15,  75  n.,  89  n.,  115  n. ;    Works  of  Chaucer, 
vol.  II.  p.  503.     On  Lydgate's  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the    Troilus,  cf.  J.  Schick,   Lydgate's    Temple  of  Glass, 
p.  cxxvi.     The  Gest  Hystoriale  omits  details  in  the  account 
of  the  lovers,  because, 

"Who-so  wilnes  to  wit  of  thaire  wo  fir, 
Turne  hym  to  Troilus  and  talke  there  ynoghe." 

(8053-8054;  cf.  Works  of  Chaucer,  vol.  II.  p.  Ixvi.) 
Gower,  who  made  use  of  the  works  of  both  Benoit  and 
Guido,  always  refers  to  the  story  as  it  is  found  in 
Chaucer's  poem.  (Con/.  Amant.,  II.  2457-2459 ;  IV.  2795 ; 
V.  7597-7602  ;  VIII.  2531;  Mirour  de  Vomme,  5253-5355; 
Balades,  XX.  19-22.) 

3  Cf .  p.  13. 


TO   GUIDO  DELLE  COLONNE  153 

acquainted  with  that  language/  while 
Chaucer  refers  to  Dante2  and  Petrarch3  as 
authorities  in  the  same  Tale  in  which  he  cites 
from  Trophee.  He  knows  that  Chaucer  was 
acquainted  with  the  work  of  Guido,4  and 
accepts  his  authority  as  to  the  existence 

1  Bale's  statements  that  Lydgate  had  travelled  in 
Italy  for  the  sake  of  learning  the  language,  that  Dante 
was  one  of  the  authors  most  studied  by  him,  and  that  he 
translated  some  of  his  writings,  as  well  as  some  of 
Petrarch's,  have  been  shown  to  be  worthless ;  with  how- 
ever much  faith  they  were  accepted  and  enlarged  upon 
by  the  bibliographers  and  historians  of  early  English 
history.  (Bale,  Scriptorum  illustrium  majoris  Britanniae 
Catalogus,  Bale,  1559,  pp.  586,  587 ;  Tanner,  Bibliotheca 
Britannico-Hibernica,  1748,  p.  489;  Warton,  History  of 
English  Poetry,  1824,  vol.  II.  p.  362  ;  Ritson,  Bibliographia 
Poetica,  p.  6 ;  A.  Hortis,  Studi  sulle  opere  latine  del  Boc- 
caccio, pp.  627  n.,  646-647 ;  Constans,  La  legende  d'Oedipe, 
pp.  366-367;  Roman  de  Thebes,  vol.  II.  p.  clxi;  Morley, 
English  Writers,  vol.  VI.  p.  103;  E.  Koeppel,  Laurents 
und  Lydgates  Bearbeitungen,  etc.,  p.  83 ;  Zeit.  fur  ver- 
gleichendes  Literatur,  vol.  I.  p.  426;  Schick,  as  cited, 
pp.  lxxxviii.-xc.,  xcvi.,  clii.) 

2C.  T.,  B,  3657;  cf.  p.  29  n. 

8  C.  T.,  B,  3515;  cf.  p.  145,  n.  2. 

4  He  makes  use  of  the  Legend  of  Good  Women  in  his 
account  of  Jason  and  Medea ;  cf .  pp.  51-53,  53  n. 


154  CHAUCER'S  INDEBTEDNESS 

of  a  writer  upon  the  Trojan  war,  named 
Lolliu^,1  although  non-committal  as  to  his 
authorship  of  the  "  l^rophe."  But  he  has 
no  idea  of  the  real  name  of  the  Italian 
work  of  which  he  speaks,  or  of  its  author, 
his  favorite  Boccaccio. 

1  Cf.  pp.  14-15. 


ADDITIONS  AND   CORRECTIONS 

By  an  oversight  I  have  failed  to  note  G.  C.  Macaulay's 
contributions.  In  a  communication  to  the  Academy  of 
April  6,  1895,  he  maintained  the  theory  that  the  work  of 
Guido  was  not  used  at  all  in  the  Troilus,  as  Chaucer  is 
really  indebted  to  Benoit  in  those  passages  in  the  Eng- 
lish poem  for  which  there  seems  to  be  analogues  in  the 
Historia.  In  a  note  in  F.  J.  FurnivalFs  Three  More 
Parallel  Texts  of  Chaucer1  s  Troilus  and  Criseyde,  pp.  a-b, 
he  cites  a  number  of  passages  from  the  Roman  de  Troie, 
which  were  unquestionably  the  original  of  some  lines  of 
Chaucer,  and  notes  that  only  in  the  fifth  book  is  use 
made  of  this  auxiliary  source.  By  the  same  slip  I  have 
overlooked  the  edition  of  Harleian  MS.,  1239,  an  indiffer- 
ent copy  of  an  early  version  of  the  Troilus,  from  which  I 
have  only  cited  at  Second-hand,  and  without  due  empha- 
sis. The  readings  cited  below,  for  the  most  part  are  not 
found  in  the  other  MSS.,  but  it  may  be  grouped  on  ac- 
count of  other  characteristics,  with  Cambridge  Univ.  Libr. 
MS.  Gg.  4.  27,  and  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  MS.  L  1. 

P.  7.  The  variant  of  T.  and  C.,  III.  1327 
(Harl.  and  St.  John's),  — 

"  In  every  thing  the  gret(e)  of  his  sentence," 
modifies  the  statement  regarding  the  fidel- 
ity with  which  the  original  is  reproduced, 

155 


156          ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS 

and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  explanation 
is  in  a  passage  that  is  found  in  a  different 
place  in  the  other  MSS. 

Pp.  8,  122.     T.  and  C.,  V.  1044 :  — 
"  I  fynde  eke  in  the  story  elles  where." 

The  correct  plural  form,  "stories/'  in  the 
revised  version  refers  to  both  the  French 
and  Latin  sources,  while  in  lines  1037, 
1051,  only  Benoit  needs  to  be  referred  to 
as  an  authority. 

P.  73.     With  T.  and  C.,  I.  293-298,  cf. 
II.  533-535,  902. 

Pp.  74,  100,  109-110.     T.  and  C.,  IV. 
1411.     The  reading, — 

"  Whan  he  from  Delphos,  to  the  grekys  sterte," 
adds  a  detail  of  the  story  as  it  is  found  in 
Benoit  and  Guido. 

P.  81.  R.  de  Tr.,  5231  has  the  variant :  — 
"Mais  c'es  sorcilles  li  joignoient." 

P.  83.   With  T.  and  C.,  V.  1004,  cf.  III. 
1164. 


ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS          157 

P.  90,  n.    T.  and  C.,  V.  1558 :  — 

"  For  as  he  drow  a  kynge  by  the  ventaille." 
P.  101.    T.  and  C.,  IV.  50-56  :  — 
"  At  whiche  day  was  taken  Antenor, 
Palidomas  and  also  Menestes, 
Santipe,  Sarpedon,  Polinestor, 
Polite  and  eke  the  Troian  dan  Ruphes, 
And  other  lee  folk  as  Phebuosos, 
For  al  Ector,  so  that  the  folk  of  Troye 
Drede  the  lese  a  gret  part  of  hir  loye." 

This  is  evidently  a  bad  copy  of  a  version  of 

the  stanza  in  the  Filostrato,  in  which  the 

inconsistency  noted  had  not  been  corrected. 

P.  102.  The  reading  of  T.  and  C.,  IV. 

57-59 

•^       * 

"  To  Pryamus  whas  yeven  at  his  requeste 
A  tyme  of  trew," 

is   again  the   uncorrected   version  of    the 
original. 

P.  105,  n.  2.  The  reading  of  T.  and  C., 
IV.  137-138,  in  Harl  1239  is  a  translation 
of  a  line  of  Boccaccio,  in  which  the  later 
version  makes  a  change,  not  altogether 


158  ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS 

happy,  by  the  addition  of  a  detail  found  in 
the  other  sources. 

P.  109,  n.     In  a  note  to  Gower's  Conf. 
Amant.,V.  7451-7455,— 

"  This,  which  Cassandre  thanne  hihte, 
In  al  the  world  as  it  berth  sihte, 
In  bokes  as  men  finde  write, 
Is  that  Sibille  of  whom  you  wite, 
That  alle  men  yit  clepen  sage," 

Macaulay  refers  to,  but  does  not  cite  a 
passage  in  the  Pantheon  of  Godfrey  of 
Viterbo,  which  shows  that  in  Chaucer's 
lines  there  is  a  misunderstanding  of  a 
prevalent  mediaeval  tradition.  Godfrey  is 
treating  of  the  various  sibyls,  and  of  these 
he  tells  us,  "  Fuit  igitur  haec  Sibylla  Priami 
regis  filia,  et  ex  matre  Hecuba  procreata. 
Vocata  est  autem  in  Graeco  Tiburtina; 
Latine  vero  Albunea  nomine,  vel  Cassan- 
dra." Pantheon,  Pars  X,  in  Pistorius, 
Scriptores  de  Rebus  Germanicis,  vol.  II. 
p.  157 ;  cf.  Works  of  Gower,  vol.  III.  p.  510. 


ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS  159 

P.  112.    T.  and  C.,  IV.  1421 :  — 

"  Thus  wryten  thoo  that  ever  the  lestes  knew." 

P.  116,  n.  1.  Kittredge  (Observations, 
etc.,  pp.  410,  412,  418)  notes  the  verses 
which  are  metrically  defective  in  some  or 
all  the  MSS. 

Pp.  119-120,  n.  The  variant  of  T.  and  <7., 
V.  1039,— 

"  The  wych  of  hym  whan  Troylus," 

suggests    an    episode   of    which   I   cannot 
state  the  source. 

P.  121.   R.  de  Tr.,  15102-15104:  — 

"  La  destre  manche  de  son  braz 
Bone  et  fresche  de  ciclaton, 
Li  done  en  leu  de  gonfanon." 

P.  125.    T.  and  C.,  V.  1095:  — 
"Hir  name,  alias  !  ys  punysshed  so  wyde." 

P.  130.  T.  and  C.,  V.  1806  (Harl.  1239 
and  3943 ;  St.  John's) :  — 

"  Ful  pitously  hym  slough  the  fiers(e) 
Ac(c)hille." 


14  DAY  USE 

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